Deathly Hallows
by Beezer
Summary: Ebony series - The friends are separated, the lines were drawn, now all stand alone on the brink of the dark war, fighting for different reasons that will bring them back together, but not all will still be standing when the war ends
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is basically a completely different side of Deathly Hallows due to everyone being separated. We know what happens with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Now its time to see what happened with Ebony and Chelly at the same time and what happened with Luis and Oliver at Hogwarts…_

_Disclaimer: I only own Ebony, Chelly, Luis, Stark, and the bits of Lorraine and Adam_

DEATHLY HALLOWS

**CH. 1 ANOTHER DAY **

The day was dull, as unappealing as all the others before it that summer. Birds flew across the blue sky landing in the birch tree just outside the open window, chattering away with their families, snuggling in the cool shade the branches provided. They'd talk for a bit longer before flying their separate ways, knowing at the end of the day when the sun came down they'd all be one happy family again in that tree, in their home.

Ebony envied the birds. They were a family. They had each other. She was alone. Her family was gone. Her mother had long since died. Sirius was dead never to come back. And now her father was taken from her. Wanted for the murder of Albus Dumbledore and with that came the line drawn in the sand, where friendships were broken and trusts shattered. Harry had all but disowned her for it, calling her father a murderer and because she refused to believe it, because she knew there had to be more to it than that, the last of her family was gone. She could see the Weasley's house from out the window in Chelly's room.

She had relocated there. Chelly had found it unwise for her to go back to her house seeing as how Death Eaters would be everywhere and with what had happened she might need a different atmosphere for awhile. Lupin had full heartedly agreed being the only family she had left, especially now that he had married her cousin Tonks on a whim that summer. That had made Chelly ecstatic, she had always hoped they'd get together and have furry pink werewolf puppies. The change wasn't a bad one either, she had to admit. She could keep an eye on Harry this way when he arrived at the Weasley's. And she could see George. Her fiancé. It felt weird to even think that. She was engaged. The ring on her finger proved that it wasn't a dream. He had asked her to marry him when this was all done, when this war she was fighting, even if Harry didn't want her help, was over.

Lorraine stared out the window with her, frowning when she didn't see anything. She looked at Ebony then back out the window then at Ebony again. "Seriously, what are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

"I can see that. Are you waiting for something?"

"Only the impossible," she mumbled.

Lorraine rolled her eyes and left towards the kitchen. "You and Chell are one of a kind. You stare at nothing out the window, talk about shit none us understand, and eat everything in the fridge."

"Hey," she defended. "That's more your sister on the latter part and less me."

Lorraine opened a new box of cereal and set it back in the cupboard. "Yeah, but you've been living here for nearly three weeks. Don't you have a home?"

Ebony winced slightly and Lorraine stopped mid crunch, her spoon clattering to her bowl as she realized what she said. "Oh shit, sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay," she shrugged. "I just don't feel like going home yet. Chelly didn't think it was a good idea either. But sooner than later we'll be off."

"Where to?"

"I don't know yet," she said but they did know. They just couldn't tell her family as a precaution to serious consequences. The same reason she was betting Harry hadn't told the Weasley's what he planned on doing when he arrived at their house. Which judging by the calendar, was tomorrow night. He was still with the Dursley's in the meantime. But word from the Order was that they had a plan to get Harry out of the Dursley's by using decoys. She'd had a meeting set up later in the week to discuss these things.

A sliding door opened near the far right wall and Chelly slid out, apparently having taken the slide to exit her room. She stood on her feet and stretched, her back cracking in three spots. "Morning."

"You mean afternoon," Lorraine pointed at the clock that read 1:53.

"Whatever," she shrugged and grabbed a blue bowl from the cabinet and took out the same box of cereal and the remaining milk. "So what's on the schedule today?"

Ebony shrugged and moved over to sit on one of the barstools at the bay in the kitchen. "Meeting later."

"Why does that not sound fun?" she mumbled and poured her cereal into the bowl, shaking it nearly empty. She closed the box and slid in back into the cupboard then used the rest of the milk but threw away the carton.

"It never is," she said. "You know how they are nowadays."

"I know," she sighed through a mouthful of cereal. "Which is why this should be fun."

"They're going to tear me a new one."

"I know," she slurped.

"They might not be any nicer to you."

"I know."

"Guilty by association and all."

"I know."

Lorraine, who's eyes had been bouncing back and forth in confusion finally spoke. "Meeting with who?"

They both looked at her and then looked away and she got it. "Ohhh…right…secret crap and all that. Forgot you guys are like the CIA." She put her dish in the sink. "I'm gonna go watch TV. I feel like watching an FBI flick suddenly."

"You always watch crime thrillers," called out Chelly to her older sister.

"At least I know what's going on in those," she called back and Chelly sunk into her chair, spooning another mouthful from her bowl. The repercussions of being involved in something secret were not being able to tell anyone about it, not even your family and as much as it made them angry it was for their own good.

"You don't have to do this, Chell," she said quietly across the table.

"Yea, I do," she nodded. "Snape was my friend, too, and I'm not letting you go through this alone."

"But it makes you look bad."

"Not like I don't already," she snorted. "We're going to do this. We got a wedding to go to in a week and Harry comes to the Weasley's tomorrow and we see the Order later on about this."

"Seriously, when was the last time you spoke to Luis? When did you last see Luna? Or Oliver?"

Chelly ate another bite to buy time to think. Neither of them had spoken to Luis since leaving school and she wrote Luna letters, but ignored the subject of Snape entirely. The same when it came to Oliver. She had only spoken to him in letters and hadn't received one back from him in a week. "Long enough."

"This is already tearing your friends apart," Ebony shook her head.

"Like it's not tearing yours up," she reminded her. "When did you last talk to Stark or George?"

She thought about it. She hadn't seen either of them since the funeral and she'd written very few letters. "Doesn't matter."

"See, there's my point."

"This is my father, you don't need to feel obligated to help."

"Ebony, for the last time I'm doing this and its final," she dropped her spoon into her bowl for emphasis.

Her older brother Adam walked in then, whistling as he entered the kitchen, glancing at the clock to see it past noon. "Hey, you're up out of bed early, Chell."

"Hey, you're ass isn't attached to the couch after all," she shot back.

He chuckled as he picked out the cereal and grabbed a bowl. "No but my groove is in it."

"I'm willing to bet on that," Chelly said and rinsed out her dish, leaving it for the enchanted sponge to clean and finish.

Adam opened the box and poured out the cereal, frowning when only three fruit loops came out. He shook the box only getting crumbs and looked inside as if it might have been stuck. "We just bought this and it's empty."

"Yup," Chelly picked at her teeth and patted her belly. "I left you some."

"Three pieces!"

She shrugged, "That's what you get for spending your time on the couch…and eating the last brownie." She slid off her chair and Ebony followed her down the hall, leaving her brother cursing in the kitchen and headed towards her friend's bedroom.

Chelly's room was odd to say the least but Ebony expected nothing less of the girl who was related to Luna by blood, and therefore was anything but disappointed with her friend's room. There was no door to walk through, no normal tranquility to call home with a bed and a dresser and a television set with a stereo. Not when it came to Chelly. Her friend slid part of the wall away with a wave of her wand. This would cause most people to gasp in shock but not Ebony.

She remembered the first time she had entered Chely's domain. She had slid a part of the wall away down one of the many hallways that was towards the far left of the house and crawled in, beckoning Ebony to follow. With a puzzled frown Ebony did so and found she had to stay on her hands and knees, there was no standing up. There was only three feet max if she sat up and the space was just as wide.

She twisted her head to look above her and saw a padded step going horizontal, there was one to her right that Chelly was currently moving towards. Chelly climbed up it and then proceeded to crawl on the one directly above Ebony. This had to be by far the weirdest thing she had ever seen. And that was coming from a girl who spent most of her life at Hogwarts where ghost floated around, food magically appeared, candles hovered in air, three headed dogs guarded doors, broomsticks were transportation devices and her uncle/God father was a were wolf.

"Move your ass," she called out from above, already three steps ahead. Ebony crawled up, counting fourteen steps before it broke off onto a larger landing where Chelly sat waiting for her. "Bout damn time. Crawling is not your strong suit."

"Your room is weird," Ebony pointed out and looked at the crawling staircase that still went up a despite the landing they were on.

"This isn't my room. This is just how you get into my room," Chelly took out her wand and waved it at the wall behind her. To Ebony's astonishment it slid open, parting quietly despite for the slight squeak. "Gotta fix that damn thing," she mumbled and moved into her room. It was bigger than the staircase that was for sure. Tall enough to stand in, at least nine or ten feet of head room.

Ebony stood in it now, the memory passing as she sat on the couch that had become her bed over the last few weeks. It was purple for the moment. She glanced around the room, still amused with it. It was painted a polished white all around with a dangling chandelier of a variety of colors hanging on 

the baby blue ceiling high enough it wouldn't bump their heads. Chelly's bed was a queen size and to the far left wall facing out with a dark blue sheer curtain tied back around the posts. She could see the sparkles in it from here. Enough to drive Luis's ADD up the wall. A black dresser that matched was to the right and a television sat on it squarely against the wall. A pin up board was to the right of the TV and covered in moving pictures of the group that Chelly had pinned there. A mirror was on the opposite side with her makeup and hair products settled around it and just to the left of the dresser was a door that led to the bathroom. And yet more horizontal crawl stairs were straight ahead on the other side of the room, these ones leading up, one to a slide that went out the back yard, another to the attic that faced the Weasley house and was perfect for spying. Another led to a slide that went out in the kitchen (useful for Chelly tough she had a mini fridge and microwave in the room). And the last slide actually let out the meadow between the Weasley house and hers that opened from a large tree.

Chelly sat on her bed with a sigh. "What time is our meeting?"

"Five," she answered and both looked at the neon clock on the wall. It was past two. They'd Apparate there in a couple hours.

Ebony rubbed at her wrist beneath the bracelet. The Mark was still there, it never faded away now it seemed since the Dark Lord was quickly taking over. The Ministry itself seemed to be falling into his hands and it was only a matter of time she feared. She had yet to see her father though she had conversed with a few of the Death Eater's on Voldermort's behalf, enough to rely information to her and Chelly on the plans and she was only able to tell them they were planning to move Harry from his house but that the Order was suspicious of them. It seemed to be enough, but how long would the charade last…

She heard a rattling noise and turned her head to look past Chelly's bed to where a gray owl was rattling its cage, its head twitching every now and then. "Yeah, yeah, Fidget. I hear ya," Chelly pulled out a box from a drawer on her nightstand and handed the owl a cracker. She nipped at it, wing twitching now.

"You know, I never asked, but is your owl okay?"

"Yeah why?"

"She's twitching."

"She does that," Chelly nodded. "Adam gave her to me. She was his owl first. He wasn't sure what to feed her and gave her some of his energy drink one day, or maybe it was his coffee. She hasn't been the same since. She only sleeps when I sleep…sometimes." Chelly sat back down on her bed. "Where are we going after this, Eb?"

"My house…it's safest. Death Eater's don't know where I live and neither does the Order. It's shielded. When that fails we have a house by the lake that we live in and then…there's Grimmauld Place. It's tightly protected right now. We got enough back up plans to last us awhile."

"When do we go?"

"I don't know…but we'll know when the time is right…"

"You mean when Harry disappears is when we disappear?"

"Exactly," she nodded her head. "We track them."

"How?" she asked.

Ebony smiled slyly, "You didn't think I'd completely leave Harry on his own did you."

"After you socked him in the face I thought it was a sealed deal."

"He just made me mad, it doesn't mean I'll abandon him. I know he'll go to Grimmauld…after that I don't know where he'll be."

"Then how do you track him?"

"I'll be able to hear him," she grabbed her bag and dug through it, the infinity spell was a bit of a pain at times but finally she found the piece of glass she was looking for. She took it out and held it up 

for Chelly to see. "It's a two way mirror. Anyone with a piece of it can see what another is doing or hear what they're saying."

"So you'll be able to keep tabs on him at all times and know when he's in trouble."

She slid the mirror piece back into her bag. "Between this and your visions, I think we're set."

Chelly nodded her head, "I keep my bag packed just in case," she pointed to where her shoulder bag, also spelled, sat on the floor near her bed.

"It's sooner than later and if you decide last minute you can't do this I understand."

"It's too late for that, Eb…you forget I know who my father is and not only that, but I know what I saw in my vision and there's more to it, you're right about that. Dumbledore trusted us both with this and we're gonna figure this out and watch Harry like he told us too…now let's watch a movie before we go to our meeting."

Chelly put on _Hunchback of Notre Dame_ and they both fell into a silence, eyes on the movie but neither focusing completely on the contents it displayed. Both were thinking of the task that lay ahead and how difficult it would be for everyone involved in this cyclone of trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I only own Ebony, Chelly, Luis, and Stark when he appears.**

**Note: Thank you Rock Royalty for your wonderful reviews and enthusiasm!! :-)**

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**CH 2 – GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION**

Five o'clock seemed to have rolled around too fast and they soon found themselves going through the Flo Network and into Grimmauld Place. Chelly was just getting the color back in her cheeks when two wands, brightly lit pointed at them out of nowhere. Ebony raised her hands up in defense, showing she had no wand. The two on the other side of the wands seemed to take a moment to recognize them.

"Ebony, Chelly, you scared us half to death," Lupin let out a sigh and let down his wand.

"We scared you!" Chelly screeched, having moved behind Ebony. "We didn't point our wands at you."

"Sorry," he apologized. "It's a reaction nowadays."

Ebony noticed how pale and tired her Godfather looked. There were dark spots under his eyes and his skin was blanched. On the other hand, Tonk's hair was a bright pink and she seemed to be glowing, eyes twinkling as she bobbed on her feet, one hand twirling her wand so the back of her hand faced them. She got the hint.

"That reminds me, congratulations on your wedding. What a shock it was to hear," said Ebony and Tonks giggled happily.

"I know! Sorry we didn't invite you. It was a spur of the moment thing," she told her.

Ebony shrugged and glanced at her Godfather while Chelly walked with Tonk's to hear about the wedding. "I've heard of the blushing bride, but you look more like you've been to a funeral, Lupe."

"It almost feels that way," he mumbled with a shake of his head.

Ebony put her hand on his arm to stop him from walking. "You know, I may not be clairvoyant like Chelly, but I can tell something isn't right with you."

"I'm fine."

She snorted, "Yeah, and so am I. I'm peachy."

"No you aren't."

"And neither are you…you just got married, don't you love her?"

"Of course I do," he said and his eyes roamed the living room. "It's just…she should have married somewhere better…not someone like me."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone who can give her what she needs, a normal life, a normal family…"

It dawned on her. "You mean someone who isn't a werewolf."

"Precisely."

"Nothing bad can come of it," she told him.

"Tonk's is pregnant."

Ebony froze and stared at him waiting for the punch line but his eyes met hers and she saw the seriousness behind them. "It's why I married her…she's pregnant…and I don't know what to do."

"You don't seem too happy with it."

"How can I be," he let his hands fall to his sides. "That child could get my disease, Ebony. It could be like me. How could I let this happen? How could I do this to her? To a child nonetheless. I wish I could change it all, never fall in love with her, clean up this entire mess I've made…"

Ebony stepped up to him and put both hands on his shoulders, her eyes staying on his. "Fleur is marrying Bill next week and he isn't exactly normal anymore but she loves him…we don't decide who we love, Lupe…we don't decide what family we get or what happens to us…we just learn to adjust to it and live happily ever after despite the bad things that have happened," she smiled a bit. "I have two convicted murderers for father's, one no longer here but never really gone and another…another I can't find, I had a crazy psychopathic Death Eater mother, I have a stubborn ass brother type friend who I don't see eye to eye with all the time but still love despite it, a best friend who out eats a bear after hibernation, a cousin with a bubbly personality and hair to match, yet another crazy cousin who killed my afore mentioned father, two more blonde cousins who are more stuck up and conceited than all others, one of which tried to kill me and I put Lucius in Azkaban, another cousin who looks like said psycho cousin but is the sweetest woman in the world, a…boyfriend who is the silliest most immature and annoying yet thoughtful guy I have ever met and I still love him and a werewolf for an Uncle/ Godfather…and you know what?" she smiled at him. "I wouldn't trade my life for anyone else's…I wouldn't change anything about it because it's all like this for a reason and it may look like a big mess now…but it's not. It just hasn't organized itself into place yet…and when it does, we'll understand it more and we'll see it was never so bad to begin with…"

He shook his head with a smile. "When did you get so smart?"

"Got that from my Dad…both of them," she patted his shoulder and gestured down the small hall. "Shall we get to this?"

"We probably should," he nodded.

"I have a feeling it's about to get messier," she sighed as they entered the dining room and she took a seat next to Chelly and Stark who gave her a bear like hug from having not seen her since she left the school.

"Thank God you're okay," he said as she took her seat.

"You got my letters, Stark," she told him. "You knew I was okay."

"Doesn't mean I didn't want to hunt you down after you split," he muttered to her.

She winced, "Sorry, bout that."

"It's okay…I was told you might do this by…well you know," he said quietly. "And I'm taking care of you plant…I think he's starting to like me. He doesn't get as snappy as he used to. Took a couple pairs of shoes and a shirt sleeve or two, but he's starting to warm up to me."

She snorted and shook her head, glad someone at least took Winston for her and glad it was Stark. Lupin sat across from her next to Tonks and Arthur Weasley on her other side and Bill next to him, his hair shaggy and his face scarred. Kingsley sat on the other side of Chelly and Mad Eye stood at the head of the table. "Is this everyone?"

"Some couldn't make it and some aren't necessary to be here, like Mundugus," Kingsley answered. Ebony bunched her face at the name, she didn't much like Mundugus since she found him stealing from her father's house, _her house_. But she couldn't say it out loud since only Tonks, Lupin, Stark, and Chelly knew about her parentage, maybe Mr. Weasley but no one else.

"So what's this meeting about?" Chelly asked. "And I'm curious to know why we were invited since you've left us out of some of the other meetings."

"We weren't sure where you disappeared to," Lupin said. "You both seemed to vanish after the funeral."

"No offense, but there wasn't much point in me sticking around considering what happened and how it supposedly happened," said Ebony. She drummed her deep green nails against the table. "I don't like being the talk of the school on matters like those. So I left with Chelly to her house. All of you knew I was there, we made it no secret. I wrote letters."

"We didn't think you were ready for any assignments," Tonks explained sincerely. Ebony appreciated that from her cousin. "With everything that happened."

"So, why are we here? What is this big plan to get Harry out of the Dursley's home tomorrow night?"

The table went silent and the others glanced around at each other. Chelly and Ebony didn't like the feel of the tension in the room, the slight shifting of each member, all except Mad Eye were uneasy.

"We're using decoys to get Harry out of his home with the Dursley's," Lupin said carefully.

Chelly frowned puzzled. "Decoys?"

Lupin glanced at Mad Eye before continuing. "Yes…we had some volunteers for this, no one is doing it against their will or helping on orders. But we are using Poly Juice potions to disguise others to look like Harry so the Death Eater's waiting to get him won't know which is the real Harry."

"You think the Death Eater's are going to be waiting for Harry?" Ebony questioned.

"Yes. Seeing as how the spell protecting him there breaks on his seventeenth birthday. It'll be their opportunity to kill him," Tonks filled them in.

"So you're going to send a bunch of volunteers in to lure Death Eater's in different directions knowing they'll just try and kill them all?" Ebony asked incredulously.

"It's in hopes they won't know who is who or which to follow," spoke Kingsley.

"It's suicide!"

"They volunteered to help. No one twisted their arm, we told them how dangerous it would be and they wanted to help Harry," explained Lupin.

"Who?"

"What?" he blinked.

"Who are your suicide kids?" she asked, eyes purely angry.

"Eb, it doesn't matter-."

"It matters," this time coming from Chelly who had grown concerned with this as well. "Who are they?"

"Members of the Order will be flying the brooms out of Privet Drive and to different locations where Port Keys will take them to the Weasley's since its protected."

"Who are the Order Members?" Ebony asked.

"Why do you need to know that, Ebony?"Mad Eye asked.

Her eyes snapped to him as his tone alone told her he didn't trust her. "Because I have friends here and family here and that concerns me, Mad Eye."

Lupin cleared his throat slightly, "Myself, Tonks, Mad Eye, Bill, Mr. Weasley, Hagrid, Kingsley, and Oliver."

"What?" Chelly exclaimed and shot forward in her seat. "You're taking my boyfriend!"

"He's a member of the Order, Chelly," said Arthur as he tried to calm her. "And he's a very talented flyer. If anyone can out fly a Death Eater, it's Oliver."

"Who's he flying?" she questioned, running her fingers through her hair.

"Luis," Mad Eye answered.

"Are you kidding me! Luis!" Chelly exclaimed in disbelief. "You can't let him do this."

"He volunteered along with Fleur, Mundugus, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, Luna, and George."

That caused both girl's to voice their disapproval in this situation. "No," Chelly shook her head. "No, you are not letting my cousin do this too. I refuse."

"You have no say in this, Chell," said Mad Eye.

"Like hell I don't. She's sixteen and she's my family."

"And you're not letting George do this," Ebony jumped in and sat forward in her chair. She glanced across at Mr. Weasley. "You can't let George do this."

"He volunteered, Ebony. As much as I don't want him doing this, he refused to not go."

She shook her head, "No. It's too dangerous. This is suicide. Why wasn't I told about this plan? Why wasn't I asked to help?"

The table grew quiet, each finding a different place to hold their attention, but Stark kept his hand on her arm. All except for Mad Eye who stared at her, eye boring into her and she nodded her head, licking the inside of her cheek. "Of course…how could I forget…I'm Severus Snape's daughter, great betrayer of them all."

"We couldn't risk it," Lupin spoke quietly.

Her angry eyes revolved to him and he dropped his gaze from hers the minute he saw them. "Couldn't risk what? That I'd tell him your plan? That I'd betray Harry when I have done _nothing_ but protect him because he's one of the few family members I have left as you know Lupin because you're one of them. I have been nothing but fateful to this Order from the beginning."

"So was Snape to Dumbledore for years…" Mad eye added in.

She took a deep breath and turned slowly to him. "What are you hinting at, Alastor?"

"Just that an apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Ebony smiled dismissingly at him and sat back in her chair, leg folded over the other. "Is that right?"

Both Stark and Chelly moved in their chairs, knowing her calmness was just the rage turning before the storm and judging by the dark look in her blue eyes and the twisted smile, she was getting into full hell blown force.

"I just call it like I see it, Ms. Snape."

"Then it might aide you to know that the house you all sit in," she glanced at them, "belonged to my father…and four people in this room know that."

Mad Eye seemed confused and she continued as Lupin closed his eyes and shook his head slightly though Tonks, Stark, and Chelly smiled in encouragement not bothering to hide their amusement. "I may be Severus Snape's daughter, Mad Eye. He may have raised me for seventeen years…but I am the blood daughter of Sirius Black…my name by birth is Ebony Black…therefore this house is _mine_as his will states and this Order that he was fatefully dedicated too, is still my seat twice held. So yes, Alastor, I agree with you…the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"He never said you were his daughter."

"Why did you think I was so upset when he died by Bellatrix…my _cousin's_hand? I won't deny that I come from a long line of Death Eater's on both sides of my family. Calandra was one of the worst and my father's side is no better, no brighter. But just because the parent is a Death Eater or the sister is doesn't mean the whole family is a bunch of bad apples," she gestured at Tonks. "Tonks can attest to that. Her mother, another of my cousins, isn't a Death Eater…but Bellatrix and Narcissa, her sister's, are. Sirius Black's whole family was…but not him. Even though he was accused of a horrible crime no one saw past until it was revealed otherwise, just like my Dad, Snape, is being accused of, didn't make him a bad person in the end. So you can say what you will, Mad Eye, and believe what you want but don't you dare think I would betray Harry in any way or put the ones I love at risk like George and Lupin and Tonks or my friends like Luis and Hermione and Luna and the others to please my Dad. Don't you dare judge me like that when you don't know anything about me," she looked around the table. "Does anyone have anything they'd like to add since you all felt the same way about this topic?"

No one said a word, no one dared even glance her way except for the grinning Stark and Chelly. "Good," she pushed her chair back and stood up. "This meeting is over. I hope, for Harry's sake, tomorrow night goes well…and if it doesn't I'm sure some of you will feel I had a hand in it. If you do then you can go to hell for even thinking I would hurt Harry in any way."

Chelly followed her down the corridor towards the living room, Stark right behind her.

"Ebony, wait!" Lupin called out to her. She didn't stop, she kept going. He grabbed her arm to stop her. "Wait."

"Why! So you can all prosecute me some more? I don't think so," she shook her head.

"I wanted to tell you but we all agreed it wouldn't be a good idea to involve either of you?"

"But it's okay to let my cousin, one of my best friends and my boyfriend risk their lives?" Chelly asked.

"They volunteered."

"We would have to given the chance," Chelly lied, but they didn't need to know that.

"Some were unsure of where you stood," Lupin admitted.

"Some," Stark replied coldly. "I was there for that vote. I remember being out voted every time."

Lupin glared at him. "But we know now that you are on our side."

Ebony shook her head with a humorless laugh. "We've _always_ been. Is it just now you all see that? I'm tired of defending myself and repeating everything all the time. I'm done. You all have a fun and safe trip tomorrow night and please try to stay alive. I don't feel like losing any more family than I already have…and you're married now with a child on the way, be smart about this."

She jerked her arm away from him and glanced at Stark. "You can come with us if you need a break from this?"

Stark glanced at Lupin, eyes as cold as hers could be, it was the Slytherin side of them. The reason that someone who seemed so nice could be put in a house that was so evil, because they had it n them and when it was released it was worse than most in the Slytherin house could be. "I could use a break." With that they moved into the fire place disappearing from the house and unwelcomed feeling back into Chelly's bedroom. She plopped down on the now dark blue couch and craned her head back to stare at the stars on the now black ceiling.

Stark was looking around wide eyed. "Where the hell am I? In a fun house?"

"My bedroom," Chelly said.

"I was right…a fun house…your room really does reflect you," he said gesturing at the color changing furniture and the stars on the ceiling.

"That was fun," she said after a moment.

"Uh huh," Chelly nodded, bent over in two as she tried to stop the queasy feeling. "Did you notice it smelt different?"

Ebony frowned and turned to look at her. "No, why?"

"Because there was no food cooking?"

Chelly lifted her head up brushing the hair from her face to glare at Stark. "You're lucky my stomach is still turning or I'd smack you. It just smelt different…musky. Or someone did, I don't know."

"I didn't notice. Should I have?"

She shook her head. "My sense of smell has always been strong…guess I get that from my dad…I can't believe Oliver never told me this. I'll kill him!"

Ebony stood up liking the idea but of her own.

"Where are you going?" Stark asked her.

"To kill my fiancé," she gestured at one of the tunnels that led to the outside exit. "Care to join me?"

"Can I record it?" Stark asked with a grin and eagerness that was too genuine.

"Wouldn't miss it," she grinned and followed her out.

Ebony slid down and soon found herself stumbling to her feet as the night air hit her face, Chelly tumbled behind her followed by Stark and they dusted off their clothes heading towards the Weasley's. They paused at the barrier and Ebony glanced at her friend who nodded and closed her eyes. A moment later she opened them with a frown, "Toaster?"

The barrier seemed to slide out of place enough to let them in.

"Really? That's the password." Stark blinked as they continued to walk.

She shrugged. "That's what he said to protect it…no one will ever guess toaster."

"And I always thought Dumbledore had weird passwords."

Ebony knocked on the front door and heard the bustling and mumbling inside. The curtain moved and she saw Mrs. Weasley's face for a moment before hearing more whispering. They were debating on opening the door. Finally, locks slid out of place and it cracked open, Mrs. Weasley gave them a bright grin. "Chelly, Ebony, Mr. Stark! How did you get past the barrier? I thought Arthur left it up."

"He did," said Chelly. "It's just I practiced a lot last year on my visions and I saw what the password was…very creative."

Mrs. Weasley looked shocked, her face had lost some color at the prospect Chelly could read passwords on things as important as barriers.

"We aren't going to tell anyone, Mrs. Weasley. I've already been through this with the Order," Ebony sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I just want to talk to George if you could send him out since you obviously don't want us in."

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

Chelly gestured at the porch they stood on. "Well, we're still out here."

"Ohh, right! Good heavens, I'm sorry, do come in," she said and opened the door so they could walk in. Ebony wasn't a bit surprised to see Ron, Ginny, and Hermione sitting at the kitchen table acting like they didn't see either of them but the fact they weren't eating or talking amongst themselves spoke volumes to the two. "GEORGE!" Mrs. Weasley shouted causing Chelly to jump and Stark to rub at his ear. "YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"

She smiled at them and busied herself around the kitchen before heading down the hall, "He'll be right down."

Chelly moved to stand near Ron and Hermione, "Hey guys…"

"Hi," they both mumbled.

"Don't be too cheery," Ebony said. "Someone might think we were actually friends."

"We are," said Ginny who was the first to look at her. "Least I am."

"Glad to know there's one in the group."

"Ron is too, he's just a bit of a pansy," his sister said.

"Am not!" Ron defended.

"Are too," Ginny and Chelly said together.

"Ron, you don't budge unless Harry tells you so," Chelly put in and glanced at Hermione. "And I already know about you, don't need to go there again Miss Follower."

"Look who's talking," Hermione mumbled and Chelly's hand tightened on the back of her chair.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Hermione shook her head eyes wide as she realized Chelly heard her.

"For your sake," Chelly seethed. "I'm going to let that slide but the next time something repulsive falls out of your mouth I'll be the first to shut it for you."

Hermione nodded.

"Just for the record," she added. "Saying that to me has the same feeling to me and Eb as someone calling you a Mudblood so I want you to remember how swell that feels before you say it again."

Chelly took a deep breath and paused, sniffing the air with a frown. She could smell Cool Broom. It was faint but definitely there. She sniffed again catching Hermione's Cherry Blossom shampoo and Ron's over done cologne, but there was definitely Cool Broom. "Is Oliver here?"

Ron's eyes widened slightly. "No…he was here earlier though…how'd you know?"

"I smell his cologne."

"Impossible," Hermione said. "He was here over an hour ago."

"She's good at that," said Ebony.

"Yup," she tapped her nose. "I can smell trouble a mile away."

George came down the stairs and saw Ebony and grinned. Ebony didn't smile though, her eyes darkened.

"And here comes trouble," Chelly sniffed.

"Ebony," George hugged her and didn't notice in his glee that she didn't hug him back. "I didn't think I'd see you till next week."

"Oh, I had to see you now," she smiled coldly and put one arm around him, her hand resting on the back of his neck.

"Really?" he smiled with raised eyebrows.

"This couldn't wait."

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

She smiled and her hand slid to his ear and twisted, pulling him down to the point he had to bend with her or lose his ear, she whispered angrily to him. "Are you out of your mind? Volunteering yourself as a decoy!"

"Ow, ow! Love, you're hurting me."

"And you hurt me by doing this! Are you insane," she let go of his ear and saw the others moving to leave the table."You three stay put. I heard your names in this as well and I doubt Mrs. Weasley's been told yet." They all sat back down and she smacked George's arm.

"Ow!" he rubbed the spot. "Darling, you know I like it rough but this is a little harsh."

"Don't make jokes, this isn't funny. This is serious, you could get hurt or worse doing this and I can't handle that."

"How do you think I feel with you doing what you have to do? I'm scared too, but I know you have to do it so I accept it why can't you do the same?"

"Because I saw your posted flyers in Diagon Alley and I know it's you posting the jokes on the Dark Lord. That's dangerous, don't you get that. If they find out it's you they will kill you. And you can die tomorrow doing this and I can't deal with that."

"It'll be okay. I promise," he promised her and tried to take her hand but she backed away.

"Don't promise me that, don't say things you can't uphold. Don't give me false hopes."

"I'm not. I made you a promise at the end of the school year, remember?" he glanced at her left hand that was hidden beneath her sleeve to cover the ring. "I'm going to live up to it, literally."

"Then don't do this tomorrow. None of you, its too dangerous there has to be another way," she said in fear.

"There's not, I have to do this."

"No you don't!"

"Yes, I do," he nodded calmly despite her anger. "Right Professor Stark?"

He shook his head holding his hands out, palm forward. "Don't include me in this. I voted against this which is why I'll be here and not helping out there."

"Some help," George muttered and looked at Ebony. "I have to do this."

She ran her fingers through her hair, "Dammit George! I love you. That's why I'm so scared about you doing this because I love you too much to lose you. I wouldn't have agreed to marry you otherwise." Her hand went to her mouth but the words had already come out and she turned around slightly to see not only the three in the kitchen but Mrs. Weasley along with Bill and Mr. Weasley who had just gotten back. "Oops…"

"Married?" Mrs. Weasley repeated after a moment looking stunned.

"Well, not yet, Mum," George shrugged since the cat was out of the bag and their secret in the open. "But we plan on it." He grabbed her left hand moved her sleeve down to show the ring. "I asked her after the funeral."

"How romantic," Ginny muttered.

"Well, she was leaving so I thought it was now or never," he said. "I was going to tell you…when the time was right…like after Bill and Fleur's wedding."

They both waited as they all stared at them and at once there was a roar of noises. Mrs. Weasley started giggling happily and scurried over to Ebony to look at her ring, surrounded by Fleur, Ginny and Hermione while Ron, Fred, Mr. Weasley and Bill patted George on the back. Only Stark seemed oddly silent, picking lint off his shirt sleeve.

"Oh, dear. So many things to prepare for," Mrs. Weasley said excitingly. "We need to plan the date, the dress, the food, invitations!"

"That's not-."

"Ohh and decorations and the cake. You need to have a lovely cake!"

"Okay but-."

"And you need Bridesmaids and your Maid of Honor."

"I know but-."

"Then there's music and -."

"We can worry about all that later," she finally got in. "George and I aren't getting married until all this is over."

"All what, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Ebony gestured around. "This, the battle, the Dark Lord…my father. Once it's all over then I will marry him."

"But that could be years," she said.

"Years isn't bad," Stark mumbled.

"Then it'll be years, but I want my father there. I want the world to be safe again before I get married," she explained. "Until then, it's too dangerous. I have too many things I have to do."

"Oh," was all she said.

"That makes sense," Ginny nodded and understood as well. Her and Harry had broken up due to the same circumstances. It just wasn't safe, it wasn't a good time. When everything was over then it would be okay.

"I better be going anyway. Tomorrow is a busy day," she said and gestured at Chelly.

Bill sniffed the air with a frown. "I smell it again."

"Smell what?" Mr. Weasley questioned.

"That musky smell…," he answered.

Ebony glanced at Chelly who had a wide eyed expression. Bill had smelt the same thing she did and judging by Chelly's twitching nose, she was smelling it again."We better be going," she grabbed Chelly's arm and moved Stark out the door. "We'll see you all at the wedding."

She pulled them out of the house and they hurried out of the barrier and to the rock that led them back to her room. Chelly flopped onto her bed burying her face in the pillow and muttered while Stark took a seat on the couch.

"I don't speak pillow," Ebony told her, taking her seat on the couch.

She lifted her head up. "I said I smelt _him_."

"Who's him?" Stark asked. "Oliver?"

"No. Bill!" she exclaimed. "I was smelling Bill."

"So, you smelt Oliver too. You could always catch scents."

"No," she sat up crossed legged on the bed. "This is different…I smelled the same thing with Lupin and…and with my Dad. It's the same smell, Eb!"

"Okay."

"I can smell the wolf part of them! They all smell alike, musky. And Bill was smelling that in the kitchen right now. He was smelling me!"

"Ohh," it dawned on Stark. "That could be bad."

"You think?" she nodded. "What do I do?"

"Well you can't cover your scent. Just hope no one asks," Ebony said.

"That's your advice," she mumbled.

Ebony shrugged. "What else can I say?"

"Thank you, oh wise one," she plopped back on her bed.

"I'm out of thoughts, my mind is spent," she laid back across the couch, kicking her shoes off.

"Yeah, being engaged and all," Stark said.

"Sorry I didn't tell you. I was keeping it a secret from everyone."

"No big deal," he looked at his watch. "I better be going. Winston will be getting cranky and take it out on the couch again. I'll see you guys tomorrow at the Weasley house."

"Okay, later," Ebony said and he disappeared through the floo network.

"Sheesh he was acting weird," Chelly snorted.

"So I noticed," she said with a frown and laid her head back on the couch. "I'm tired."

"I hear that," Chelly yawned. "You think everything will go okay tomorrow?"

"I don't know," she stared up at the star ceiling. "What do you see?"

"Nothing…that's what bothers me…but not as much as what I feel…"

Ebony stared at her engagement ring and licked her suddenly dry lips. "What do you feel?"

She was silent a moment which only settled the fear in her more. "Something bad is going to happen…someone will die…I can see that much…but something bad will happen…it never goes right does it? It never goes the way we planned it."

Ebony's eyes shifted to the ring on her other hand, her ring from her father. She remembered getting it like it was just the other day. She had hugged him, one of the few times she ever did…she wished she had hugged him more, but she never expected this to happen. She closed her eyes against the void. "No, Chell…it never goes the way we plan."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I only own Ebony, Luis, Chelly, and Stark. Wish I could claim more, but I can't_

_A/N: Thank you once again Rock Royalty & Write in Raine for the wonderful reviews!! Highly appreciate it!!_

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**CH 3 – AMBUSHED**

Ebony's knee bounced up and down nervously, she wrapped her jacket tighter around her, tying the belt in place. It was cold for a summer night or maybe she was just cold. She'd been sitting out there facing the Weasley house for hours it seemed. She had watched them all Apparate from the front of the house, saw George disappear into the night with the others and prayed they'd all come back safe. By the sound of it, Mrs. Weasley was none too happy with all of her children helping in this and Luis looked less than happy by his hunched over form, dragging his feet along. At one point Ron and Lupin had to grab him and drag him back as he tried to run from the group. Apparently he had less than likely volunteered for this. She saw Oliver with his broom in hand standing with them. He and Chelly had had a long discussion over the phone for two hours and twenty two minutes over this last night. She knew the time precisely because she was staring at the clock on the wall wondering when she'd hang up the phone and go to bed.

They all disappeared into the dark night, leaving Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Stark standing there at the spot they all left from. Ebony rubbed a hand down her face, leaving it to God and hope. That was almost an hour ago…

"Do you think they're okay?" Chelly asked from besides her on the porch.

Ebony shrugged. "I was about to ask you the same thing…"

She rubbed at her arms to rid the cold she felt. "I don't know."

She wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knee. "Neither do I…we can just wait."

They watched the house across the way and did just that, waited for a sign that they had returned safely and unharmed from this.

Luis didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be doing this. He wanted to be at home in his bed watching _Friends_ and eating popcorn. Not in the Harry's house about ready to embark on a suicidal mission. They were out of their minds. He'd been saying that since he was voluntarily volunteered to do this. He'd been told it was a "simple mission, no big deal" but upon arriving at the Weasley's house and hearing the details he wanted to back out. Sadly fifteen people were enough to out number him and he couldn't out run Oliver or Lupin as he found out when they dragged him back, catching him before he got three feet ahead. Stark was no use, it'd only be two against the lot of them. He was screwed.

Now he stood in the small kitchen that was tastelessly decorated in yellow and red, pouting in the corner and eyeing the door every few seconds. But Tonks and Kingsley were blocking it and Lupin and Fred were blocking the only other exit to the living room where the front door was. He doubted he'd make it that far anyway. Besides him and Mundungus, it seemed everyone else was comfortable with this suicide mission. Even Luna had…but then again, it was Luna. She got lucky, though. They decided since she, along with Ginny, were underage it was a bad idea…so they had others replace them…one being him…damn him for being eighteen.

"I didn't expect so many of you," Harry surveyed them all but seemed happy nonetheless.

"We wouldn't miss out helping you, Harry," Oliver said.

Luis raised his hand, "Some of us against our will."

Tonks smacked his hand back down, "Now, Luis, it'll be okay."

"This is not okay," he shook his head. "I am a Ravenclaw, not a Slytherin or a Gryffindor. I don't do danger."

"It's not dangerous," she told him.

He snorted. "Then where are Ebony and Chelly! Them not here tells me its worse than dangerous because they've done some scary stuff!"

"They're not here for other reasons," Lupin answered from across the way.

"They're not evil!" Luis defended them. He had had all summer to think it over, which he had. A lot. And as much as Snape scared him, as much as he believed Harry, he doubted Ebony was one of them. Sure she was secretive, but nothing about her screamed evil. She had killed a Death Eater at the Ministry Battle, she had knocked Lucius out and cursed Bellatrix, she had been there fighting _against_ the Death Eater's. Just because she was related to one didn't mean she was one he had decided. And like hell Chelly was. He refused to judge them as Followers when there was no hard evidence or proof, only suspicion.

"That's not the reason," Lupin said. "We had spoken to them, they know of this they just didn't like the sound of it."

"Because they're smart!" he exclaimed and let his hands fall down to his sides. "They know better and so do I…so I should be on my way," he stepped towards the back door but Kingsley put a hand on his shoulder causing him to squeak and moved him back to his spot.

"Too late for that," Moody dropped the sack he was carrying at his feet and turned to Harry. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse joined the Death Eaters which gives us a big problem. He's made it impossible to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Port Key here, or Apparate out. Second problem: you're still underage so you have a Trace on you that detects when you use magic. We can't wait for it to break because the moment it does the protection your mother gave you vanishes."

"So what are we going to do?" Harry asked.

"We're going to use the only means we have; brooms, Threstals, and Hagrid's bike. We've given a dozen different houses protection so Death Eater's can't tell which one you'll be going to. You'll be going to Tonk's parent's. Once you're within the boundaries of the protective charms you'll be able to Port Key to the Burrow. Any questions?"

"Uhh…sixteen of us are flying to Tonk's parents?"

"Ah," said Moody. "I forgot to mention the key point. Sixteen of us won't be flying to Tonk's parents'. There will be eight Harry Potters moving through the sky tonight, each with a companion, each pair heading to a different safe house."

Moody withdrew a flask of what looked like mud and Luis winced. Polyjuice potion pretty much tasted like it.

"No!" Harry said loudly. "No way! If you think I'm going to let seven people risk their lives -"

Ron snorted. "Because it's the first time for us."

"This is different, pretending to be me - "

"Well, none of us fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck looking like you forever."

"Yeah," George agreed. "I'd lose this good looking body and Ebony would never marry me."

Harry didn't smile. "You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair."

"Well, that plan is shot," said George with a snap of his fingers. "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."

"Yeah, fifteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic, we've got no chance," Oliver said.

"Funny," said Harry. "Real amusing."

"See, Harry says it's a bad idea. My vote is with Harry," Luis said pointing at him. "He's sensible."

"There's no vote, Lagunas," Moody said and eyes Harry. "If it comes to force then it will. Everyone here is overage and prepared to take the risk."

Luis raised his hand and Mad Eye rolled his eye, "Except for the prat, but he's here so that says something."

"Yeah, it says I was forced!"

"Let's have no more arguments. Time is wearing on. Give us the hair."

"This is mad!" Harry said. "There's no need- "

"No need!" snarled Moody. "With You-Know-Who out there and half the Ministry on his side? Potter, if we're lucky he'll have swallowed the fake bait and he'll be planning to ambush you on the 13th, but he'd be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, it's what I'd do and Ebony mentioned he would. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know it. Our only chance is decoys. Even You-Know-Who can't split himself into eight."

Harry reluctantly pulled strands of his hair out and put it in the flask.

"Fake Potters line up, Luis you in front so you can't bolt," Moody instructed. Luis dragged his feet and picked up a glass of the gold colored potion. He stared at it, frowning and suddenly felt the urge to vomit.

"All together then," Moody said and Luis shut his eyes and downed the glass, grimacing at the sullen taste and burn. He put the glass on the table and forced himself not to gag. He gasped suddenly and doubled over, feeling his face bubble like hot wax. He felt himself grow taller, his pants no longer as long as they were. His hair turned a lighter color as well as his skin. He straightened up and looked shocked as he counted seven other Harry's standing in the kitchen, some of their clothes not fitting as well as they had and some baggier than they had been. His were baggier due to Harry's scrawnier form. He glanced at his hands. "Whoa…"

"Some of your clothes seem baggier, I got smaller ones," Moody handed Luis a new pair of jeans. "You're shirt seems fine just get rid of the sweater, white is too attracting at night."

Grudgidly he removed the sweater and was glad enough his dark brown Abercrombie shirt passed inspection, like hell he was leaving this behind. He undid his pants as the rest changed and slipped on the longer legged pair. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching and peeked down his boxers. He shrugged, seeing nothing special, and buttoned up his pants.

"I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo," Ron said and looked down his shirt at Harry's chest.

"Harry, you eyesight is awful," Hermione said and put on the glasses.

Luis couldn't see through his own. "Tell me about it. I thought I had bad eyes." He charmed his glasses for stronger lenses and changed them to mimic Harry's wire rimmed style. He was handed a rucksack and an owl cage containing a snowy white owl. "Wow, we're going all out."

"Alright," said Moody. "The pairs will be as follows, Mundungus will be traveling with me, by broom. Arthur and Fred, George with Remus, Luis with Oliver, Fleur -"

"She's flying with me on Threstal," Bill said. "She's not fond of brooms."

"Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by Threstal."

"Which leaves you with me Ron," said Tonk's brightly.

"An' you're with me, 'arry. That all righ'?" Hagrid asked. "We'll be on my bike."

"That's great," Harry nodded.

"We think the Death Eater's will expect you to be on broom," Moody explained. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you, so if we do run into Death Eater's we're betting they'll go after the Potter's on brooms."

"Ohhh great…now I feel better," Luis grumbled.

"Come on, no point locking the door, it won't keep them out," Moody said and gestured for them to get going. "All right then, everyone get ready I want us all to leave at the same moment."

Luis shrugged the ruck sack onto his shoulders, having minimized the cage enough to fit in so he could hold onto Oliver better. The roar of Hagrid's voice scared him enough to grip Oliver tighter.

"No so tight," Oliver warned him, pulling on his gloves and cracking his fingers. "I need to be able to breathe, Luis."

"Right," he gulped and loosened a tad.

"On the count of three…one…two…THREE!"

Luis held his breath as Oliver kicked off and they went soaring into the sky. He looked back and saw the house disappear as they ascended into the clouds. Higher and higher they went and he could see George and Lupin in the distance. And then, out of nowhere a blue bolt shot past them, missing him by a foot but enough to make him gasp as Death Eater's, thirty of them appeared in the sky.

"Shit!" Oliver cursed. "Hang on."

The broom suddenly shot up and forward and Luis squeaked, holding tighter and glancing back to find three of the Death Eater's following suit. "They're on us!"

"Use your wand, try to get rid of them."

"Are you nuts!"

"I have to fly, Luis. You have to try and get rid of them," Oliver told him as they zipped through the clouds.

Luis slowly reached into his back pocket as another bolt shot past them, green this time. Which only meant it was the Death Curse. They were trying to kill him. He got a hold of his wand and turned enough to see them. "_Stupefy!" _

The spell hit one and they flew off their broom, pitching down in the air but his friends didn't stop to help him. They kept coming at them, firing off spells. "I got one!"

"Get the others," Oliver said as a curse missed his head by an inch. He turned left sharply and they still followed. He pitched down causing Luis to scream and hold on then jerked back up in hopes of losing them. But the two stayed on his tail. They expected his spells now and didn't seem to be fazed by them anymore. Nothing was working.

Oliver cursed under his breath, only one thing left to do. "Hang on!" Without waiting for a reply he leaned forward and the broom shot forward faster, Luis held on tighter to the point he might have a bruise on his side but as long as they got out of this that would be fine with him. He guided the broom up suddenly until they were at a ninety degree angle and then pushed down causing them to spin downward, through the clouds and clearing them. Oliver saw the top of the sky scraper getting closer and closer to them.

"Oliver! Building! Building! Building!" Luis was shouting behind him. He made a noise and buried his face in his shoulder. The top of the building was getting bigger and bigger as they got closer and closer. At the last second he jerked the broom up and went straight before shooting back up into the cover of the clouds.

Luis peeked open his eyes after finding he wasn't smashed into cement. He glanced behind him and only saw one Death Eater the other having hit the building. "Brilliant!"

"Did it work?" he asked.

"We got one left."

"Dammit!"

Luis tried spells but they were all blocked. This was going to prove difficult, he was out of ideas. And the Death Eater wouldn't fall for the building trick again. He turned forward and felt something move in his pocket. With one hand he reached in and pulled out a vial. The Draught of the Dead. He forgot he had it. He had been practicing to make it a gas and succeeded finally after many attempts and a few side effects. He had an idea.

"Oliver, can you get us close to him?"

"Why?"

"I have a plan," he said and clutched the vial.

"Okay," he nodded and suddenly the broom shot up and before Luis could scream it went in a loop through the clouds and they were behind the Death Eater, quickly gaining on him. Luis leaned to the side, arm cocked back. He only had one shot at this. Oliver got them next to the Death Eater who turned his head, surprised to see them. Luis grinned at him and threw the vial. It exploded on his clothes, gas rising in his face and he blinked a few times in surprise. Luis waved at him, blowing him a kiss and they shot off. He turned his head to watch the Death Eater fall off his broom.

"We did it!" he shrieked and smiled.

"Now let's get to the Weasley's and hope everyone else did," Oliver said and they continued onward, arriving at the Weasley's without any other delays.

They landed smoothly on the ground and Ginny and Mrs. Weasley seemed happy to see them.

"Harry?" Ginny asked carefully.

He shook his head, a little dizzy at first after flying like a maniac for so long. He wasn't sure how they were able to do it. He felt queasy, "No. I'm Luis…"

He shook his head and felt the Poly Juice wearing off as the pants seemed longer than before and the glasses were hurting his eyes. He removed them and corrected them back to his own noticing his hands were darker. Yup, back to himself.

"Anyone else back?" Oliver asked.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head nervously biting her lip.

"Where are they?" Oliver glanced at the sky and was suddenly tackled from his left, falling to the ground with Chelly wrapped around him, kissing his face.

"Don't you ever," she kissed him. "Ever," kiss, "Ever," kiss, "Ever," kiss, "Ever," kiss, "Do," kiss, "That," kiss, "Again." Followed by a sock to his arm as she helped him back up.

Ebony glanced around, nodding her head at Luis. But, Luis, having been on the emotional rollercoaster of nearly dying more than once hugged her to her surprise. Even Stark who stood near by with his hands in his pockets seemed taken by it. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"For what?" she asked.

"For not taking your side."

She patted his back. "It's okay, you did what you had to…now can you let go of me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm making it Hug a Slytherin day and you're the only Slytherin here."

"What about Stark?"

Luis thought about it for a split second. "Oh yeah."

Stark held his hand out, "Don't even think about it."

"Too bad already thought about it," he lunged wrapping his arms around Stark's waist. He frowned at the situation, his arms held up and away from the loving Ravenclaw. He patted his back with one hand. "Okay, you're good." Luis kept holding on and Stark managed to pry him loose with only mild threats.

Ebony was looking up at the sky. "Where's George?"

"He flew with Lupin," Oliver said. "We were attacked. They expected us."

"What?" her eyes widened and Mrs. Weasley gasped.

"There were thirty of them at least. They were firing Death Curses at us. I flew out as fast as I could. I haven't seen anyone since."

"No," she whispered and watched the skies.

A Port Key landed on the ground, an oil can with no one attached to it. Mrs. Weasley picked it up, lip trembling. "This was to be Ron and Tonks…" she glanced around as if they had landed somewhere else. "Where are they?"

Ginny put her arm around her mother. "It's okay, Mum."

"Shit," Stark was holding an old sneaker that had landed not too far from where he stood. Mrs. Weasley's breath caught in her throat, her eyes watering. "This was Arthur and Fred's."

Another noise but this time followed by two very loud _thumps_. Mrs. Weasley gave a cry and rushed to the figures on the ground. Harry stood up swaying slightly and would have fallen. Ebony reached him and grabbed his arms, letting him lean against her. "Harry? Harry? Are you all right?" she asked, an arm around his back as he momentarily leaned his head into her shoulder and nodded into her.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley cried. "You are the real Harry? What happened?"

"He's real," Ebony said and helped him walk to the back steps. She could recognize Harry out of a million of them.

"What do you mean?" he panted and looked back and forth at them. "Isn't anyone else back yet?"

"Only Luis and Oliver," she told him and moved back so he could stand on his own. She noted he kept his hand on her arm as they walked inside. "No one else yet." She twisted her engagement ring on her finger nervously.

Harry saw it and sat in a chair, "He'll be okay, Eb."

"I hope so," she said.

"Go wait for him outside," he told her.

She nodded at him and moved past Hagrid out the back door to stand with Stark, Ginny, Oliver, Luis and Chelly on the grass, waiting, watching…praying.

"Anything?"

"No," Chelly shook her head. "No one yet."

"Where are they all?" Luis asked, his voice a whisper.

"They couldn't have gotten all of you," Ginny said and her eyes were full of fear at the thought of all her brother's being dead. "Could they?"

Stark said nothing at first. "If they expected this…they'd try and take out all the Harry's to make sure they got the real one…"

"Do you think they're okay?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," Ebony said but felt the heaviness in her lie. Never underestimate Death Eater's power. She should have seen this coming, she knew it would happen. She knew they wouldn't buy some story and wait till the 13th. They _knew_ it was tonight. They knew and they were waiting and who knew who was hurt now…or worse.

A blue light appeared in the darkness, and Ebony gripped Chelly's arm out of reaction as Lupin and George appeared with it. Her heart sank to her stomach and skipped a beat as she gasped. Something was wrong. Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and his face covered in blood.

She shook her head and found her voice the same moment she found her feet, "GEORGE!" She was at his side a moment later in panic, touching his face, trying to get him to wake up. "George? Sweety, can you hear me? Please, please, George."

"Eb," she felt hands on her arms and shrugged them away, touching her fiance's pale face.

"George, honey," she mumbled in fear. He wasn't waking up.

"Eb, come on," Chelly moved her aside and Oliver took George's shoulders from the weaker, hurt Lupin while Stark grabbed his legs and together they carried him inside while Ginny helped Lupin who was favoring his arm. They moved him through the kitchen and onto the couch where the lamp light hit him and they all gasped as Ebony fell to her knees near him. One of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in scarlet blood.

"Oh, George," she whispered and pulled out her wand to help heal it, never noticing Lupin question Harry until he got to her.

Lupin grabbed her arm and pulled her up by surprise. "Lupe! What are you doing?"

"Who is your father?"

"What?" she blinked

"Answer me!"

"Sirius Black by blood but Snape by other means," she answered and caught on to what he was doing. He was checking. "Why do you care so much about me?"

"You're my God Daughter, how could I not?" he said relieved and hugged her close, kissing the top of her head before letting her go to help George. He grabbed Oliver who was closest, blood smeared on one side of his red hoody, making it a darker shade, "What was the first thing I taught you in my class?"

"I- It was bogarts."

"Good," he nodded and moved to Luis. "What was your Patronus when I taught you, Luis?"

"A ferret," he said. "But I didn't learn it from you."

"Trick question, glad you caught it," he grabbed Chelly's arm. "I didn't forget you…what color was my dog before you blew him up using Comfoundus?"

"What? It was your cat, Toots. He was orange and I was learning how to use my patronus but I did NOT blow up your cat! Would you let it go, he's fine."

He smiled pleased with the answer, "It is you…I had to check you all. We've been betrayed. Voldermort knew that you were being moved tonight, Harry, and the only people who could have told were involved in the plan."

"I didn't leak anything," Ebony shook her head from where she was kneeling by George's side, Mrs. Weasley crying silently nearby as she healed him. "I swear on everything I hold dear I did not leak this. As far as I knew they were told the 13th. I'll take a Truth Potion if I have too, if that's what it'll take to convince Moody when he gets here."

"It's all right, I'll be on your side if it comes to that," Lupin told her and winced as Stark healed his arm.

He got into further discussion with Harry but she blocked it out, working on healing her boyfriend instead. Her _fiancé_. She corrected herself. She was going to marry him, that much was true. She might smack him when he woke up for scaring her half to death and not listening to her. But she'd marry him.

"Will George be okay?"

Ebony glanced up at Harry and nodded, "Yes. There's no chance of fixing his ear though, it was cursed off…" she examined the wound, it wasn't any of the ones she'd seen before…but it did look awfully familiar, the way it was cut and the blood seemed to pour out. Her eyes widened and she gasped, recognizing the curse. She looked up at Lupin who nodded slightly and looked away.

Harry frowned catching the look. "What is it?"

"It was Snape's doing," Lupin answered.

"_Snape_?" shouted Harry and Ebony winced. "You never told me he was in this!"

"I saw him," Lupin said and glanced at her. "I just didn't want to say anything."

Ebony closed her eyes and shook her head, resting her forehead on the back of her hand that wasn't covered in blood. Her father had done this. He had hurt George thinking he was Harry…it was all too real to her.

"How did you know, Ebony?" Harry asked and she moved her head up. "How did you know?"

"Sectumsempra," she said. "I recognize the spell and besides me and you, no one else really knows about it…except for my father."

"Who created it," Harry finished with a sigh. "Now do you believe me? Now do you-."

There was a scuffling noise outside and Harry and Lupin hurried out the yard, coming back in minutes later.

"Who's out there?" she asked.

"Hermione and Kingsley, they're waiting to see who else comes back and check then," Harry answered.

"Thank goodness," Ginny sighed and her and Harry shared a moment of a look. Ebony could see how badly he wanted to hug Ginny, to kiss her but couldn't and she understood his pain as she sat on her knees next to George, stroking one side of his face out of habit as he lay unconscious. She loved him as much as Harry loved Ginny, as much as Chelly, hugging Oliver, loved him. And all of it had to be put on hold until this nightmare that was just starting was over. But the fear would be there until then, the fear of not knowing if the ones they loved would still be there when the smoke cleared.

Noises outside broke the silence and Arthur's voice could be heard from outside, "I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"

He and Fred came through the door, pale but uninjured. Mrs. Weasley threw herself in his arms, crying, "Arthur! Oh thank God!"

"How is he?" Mr. Weasley dropped to his knees next to Ebony while Fred leaned over the couch, gapping at his brother.

"He'll live, but I can't repair his ear…I'm just waiting for him to wake up," she said and trailed a finger down his cheek.

George seemed to stir slightly at the sound of her voice and let out a groan, blinking his eyes open to look at her.

"Hey, sleepy," she smiled at him. "How do you feel?"

George's fingers touched the side of his head. "Saintlike," he muttered.

"What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred terrified. "Is his mind affected?"

"Saintlike," George repeated with a smile. "You see…I'm holy. _Holey_, Fred, get it?"

Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder in knowing he was fine and Ebony rolled her eyes. "It's safe to say he'll be just fine…if I don't kill him later."

"Oh come on, babe," he sighed. "I have battle scars, I'm irresistible."

"An irresistible idiot is more like it," she snorted, but kept her bloodied hand in his and leaned over to kiss him.

"Pathetic," Fred muttered. "With a whole wide world of ear humor you go with holey."

"I thought it was funny," Luis chuckled.

"That's cuz you're pathetic," Fred teased him.

"Well, Mum," George said looking over at her. "You'll be able to tell me and Fred apart now." He looked around more and spotted Harry. "Hey Harry. Why aren't Ron and Bill cluttered around my sick bed?"

"They're not back yet, George," said Mrs. Weasley. George's grin faded away and his hand tightened in Ebony's. "They're not?"

"No, not yet," Lupin said just as scared at the prospect since it was his wife out there. Pregnant wife, Ebony added in her mind but doubted they all knew that. Half the crew migrated outside to wait for others.

"You know," George said after a minute to Ebony. "Your Dad lived up to his threat."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "I don't want to hear any bad things on my Dad."

"No, no…it's just. All these years he's threatened to tear my ear off…" he chuckled. "He finally did it."

Ebony couldn't help but laugh at that. She had forgotten how he threatened George with that all the time and now he really was missing his ear. Fred snorted and Chelly and Oliver grinned as Luis giggled.

"He'll do worse when he finds out we're engaged."

"You're engaged!"Luis shrieked and grabbed at her left hand before she could stop him, twisting it to her other side to see the diamond. "Ooo…pretty," he turned her hand back and forth to see the sparkles in it.

"Luis?" He kept turning her hand. "Luis?...LUIS!"

"What? Huh?" he blinked from his trance.

"I need my hand back…"

"Ohh right," he dropped her hand. "So when's the big day, hmm?"

"Not for awhile," she shrugged.

"Oh come on! You need to get married!"

"Why?"

"So you can have kids."

"I don't think so," she snorted.

"You don't want any?" Luis asked.

"Maybe one," she said as George answered at the same time.

"Three or four."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "What?"

"We're gonna have a big family," he told her.

"Are you having the kids?"

"No."

"Okay – shut up then."

"But-."

"I am _not _having three or four kids."

"Damn, it's like you're already married," Fred chuckled.

"I'm not getting any sex so it feels like it," George agreed and Ebony balked at him as they laughed.

The back door opened and everyone else came in, unharmed. "What's wrong?" Fred said, scanning their faces.

Chelly felt the cold dread well up in her and closed her eyes, it was the feeling of Death, cold and hard in her stomach. Something bad had happened, she had hoped it was George's ear but it was far worse than that.

"What happened?" Fred asked. "Who's - "

"Mad Eye," said Stark. "He's dead."

Ebony's eyes widened and the room went silent. He was dead. Mad Eye. The toughest man she knew. Tonk's was crying into a handkerchief, face buried in Lupin's shoulder. Chelly hung her head. She never saw it, but she had felt it. He had been her Order teacher and as much as she hated his method of teaching in the early hours of the morning she had still liked him. And as much as he and Ebony didn't agree, especially now, she never wished this one him. He was the first of what would probably be many.

After an hour, Ebony and Chelly decided it was best to go home, as much as George wanted her to stay she couldn't. She needed to go back to the Murillo's. She'd be back for the wedding she promised. But she had enough for one night and barely dodged the fault bullet of the blame being put on her because of her father. She didn't want to have to dodge any more for the night.

Oliver decided to stay with Chelly for the night and Luis Apparated back to his house. Ebony felt a bit envious of both of them. Luis for being able to go home to his family, to his own home and Chelly for being able to hold Oliver through the night. She, however, would sleep alone in her friend's home with her father miles away.

She lay on the dark purple fold out couch now and listened to Chelly's slight snore from the bed where she lay snuggled into Oliver. She buried deeper into her pillow and draped an arm over her face. He almost died. Her George. He almost died tonight. She never realized how much she actually cared for him until that point. It took him nearly being killed to make her realize she loved him, that a life with him wasn't plain or boring like she had voiced to Chelly last year. A life with him was exactly what she wanted because she loved him. If he had died tonight…she wiped the tears from her eyes along with the thoughts away. Her father had almost done that, almost killed him and she was unsure she could ever forgive him for it even if he had thought he was Harry.

But that was what bugged her. Why had her father used sectumsempra instead of the Killing Curse like everyone else was? He hated Harry, she knew that…but he loved Lily she reminded herself. He would never kill Harry because of his love for Lily…so he only used a spell that would injure him. And he had great aim so he purposely hit his ear…he knew wherever they went she would be there. She was the only one who knew how to heal from sectumsempra. Her father knew she'd be there. He knew she would be able to take care of him. She smiled a bit at the thought of knowing her father thought of her, even in the oddest way. There was some comfort in that.

A creaking noise and an "ouch" caught her attention and she sat up in bed, watching the far left corner of the room where one of the hidden doors slid open. Ebony pointed her wand at the corner, amazed with how heavy Chelly and Oliver slept. "Oye," the voice said and the figure rubbed at his head. "That smarts."

She dropped her wand with a frown, "George?"

The figure stepped closer and in the star lit room she saw George. "Who were you expecting?" he rubbed at his head, the spot where his ear was missing.

"What was your excuse to my dad when he caught you with me?"

"I was looking for my sock…he threatened to rip my ear off too," he chuckled again still finding it funny.

She let out a breath, "Just checking…why are you here?"

He sat on the edge of his bed and removed his shoes. "Because I didn't want to be away from you tonight."

"Your mum is going to freak out when she finds you missing."

"No she won't. She knows I'm here. She thought it was a good idea seeing as how I'm engaged to you and I was hurt and you needed me…and I figured you didn't want to be alone…"

"Why would you think that?" she asked quietly scooting over for him, trying to act like she didn't want him there but she was fighting the urge to throw herself at him and cling to him for life.

He slipped beneath the blankets still in his jeans but with a clean shirt, having showered before he came over. "Because I saw the look on your face and whether you like it or not, Eb, I know you. I can read you…you didn't want to be alone…after what happened…"

"You could have been killed," she whispered quietly and shook her head, feeling exhausted with her emotions.

"I'm sorry."

"I was so scared…there was so much blood…if I hadn't been there…no one else knows how to heal from sectumsempra…it's not in the books…you could have…"

"Your dad knew you'd be there," he told her, having thought the same thing she had earlier.

"What if I wasn't, George? What if you bled to death?" her voice cracked on the last word.

He touched her arm, "But you were…and I'm okay. I'm right here, touching you, next to you, talking to you…I'm always going to be right here."

"Promise?" she asked him.

"Yes…I promise to always be right next to you," he nodded in the dark.

"I want him back, George," she said quietly in the darkness.

"I know, he will be…until then you have your Holeness," he teased.

She smiled a bit and laid back down, snuggling close to him, her arm wrapping around his waist. "Just so you know…if you tell anyone I snuggle…I'll rip more than your ear off."

He chuckled and closed his eyes wearily, "My lips are sealed if it means I get to do this more often."

She smiled into his shoulder, breathing in his scent and was happy for the first time in what felt like a very long time in the arms of her future husband.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I own the same four people. _

_Rock Royalty: You'll see who's left standing. But thank you, your enthusiasm with this really helps me get these chapters out faster._

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**CH. 4 – THE WATCH**

Ebony finished pinning her hair up in bobby pins using her ring to magically do it since she hated doing her hair to begin with. It seemed to stick and the dark curls fell a bit past her shoulders while shorter strands hung down around her face. That was the easy part…wearing the dress was the hard part.

"Are you done with the mirror?" Chelly asked her as she hurried around trying to find her other high heel before she bothered to put her dress on.

"I don't know are you done with the bathroom?" George asked, needing to shower so he could get ready.

"Not yet," she hurried back in and they heard things clattering together. She came out carrying her makeup case and smoothed her hair down, having already done it in a half up half down fashion.

"Honey, you look great," Oliver reassured her as he finished tying his shoes.

"I know," she told him. "I just don't get to go to wedding's very often. So I want to look really good. Perfect even…you never know who's going to be there."

Oliver rolled his eyes and met Ebony's. They both knew Viktor Krum had been invited and apparently Chelly's crush wasn't over entirely. Ebony shrugged in a what-can-you-do- manner. Neither of them had told Luis Viktor would be attending. He'd freak out. And then there would be war between Chelly and him and they couldn't start one of those never ending battles. It always got ugly.

"I'm taking a shower," George announced and headed in with his clothes.

"Hey! I need to get dressed still," Ebony said.

"Then come on in," he shrugged with a grin.

She growled and shook her head as he shut the door. She smacked her hand against it. "I'm gonna curse you!"

"Hey, I lost an ear, okay," he said from the other side.

"You wanna keep the other one," she called back, hands on her hips.

"Then come in here and get it!"

She let out an irritated sound and threw her hands up in the air. She grabbed her dress off the wall where it hung.

"What are you doing?" Chelly asked, applying blush on in the mirror.

"I'm going in there to get dressed. I'd get dressed out here, but Oliver's here and that's just gross, no offense."

"None taken," he shrugged and sat on the end of the bed.

"And you going in there while he's showering is gross," Chelly scrunched her face.

She shrugged, "He's my fiancé. I've seen him naked."

"Ewwwww," Chelly said.

"You've seen Oliver naked," she pointed out. "That's ewwwww…again, no offense you're just like a brother to me so it's very ewww."

"None taken, same to you. Just as a sister though – not a brother of course."

"Good, because if you said brother I'd kick your ass," she threatened.

"Point taken," he nodded.

"Okay," Chelly said. "But no sex in there. That's my bathroom."

"I'm not going to have sex in your bathroom. I don't want to do my hair again. Besides, me and George aren't going to have sex again until we're married," she told them.

Chelly looked shocked. "Really?"

"Yeah, we decided on it."

"We or you?" Oliver asked, doubting his buddy had decided on that at all.

"Me," she told him. "But like he has a choice."

"Poor guy…I pity him," Oliver shook his head in shame.

"That's not such a bad idea," Chelly said and Oliver's head shot up, eyes wide. "I like that."

"Huh?" he mumbled.

"I think me and Oliver are going to try that. No sex until we're married."

"What?" he exclaimed and moved off the bed to stand behind her. "You can't be serious."

She eyed him through the mirror. "Oh, no. I am. And we are."

"But-."

"No! No arguments. It's done," she held her hand up to silence him and finished putting on her makeup.

Oliver glared at Ebony as she giggled and went into the bathroom. They heard George yelp in surprised before hearing his disappointment that she was only getting dressed. Oliver felt his pain as he sat on the bed, pouting.

There was a slight knock on the "door" and it slid open. Luis crawled in, dusting his clothes off as the door slid shut. "You really need a regular room," he told her.

"Where's the fun in that?" Chelly said.

Luis picked lint off his black pants. "Ohh, I don't know, but it'd be easier to keep my clothes wrinkle free!" He brushed off his pants and spotted Oliver. "Why is he pouting like a kid who got his candy taken away?"

Chelly chuckled and started to change, grabbing her dress off the hanger. "Funny you should say that…I told him no sex until we're married."

"Ohh," he said with a nod. "He _did_ get his candy taken away from him…it's what he gets for volunteering me for that evil mission."

"You lived," Oliver rolled his eyes.

"But I'm permanently scarred for life…I'll never ride on a broom again," he said and took a seat on the black couch.

"Unless Viktor was flying," Oliver mumbled.

"In that case, I'm all for it," he grinned and didn't notice the glare Chelly shot Oliver.

George came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and combed. He was wearing a dark red shirt with a lighter red tie and black dress pants with matching shoes. "See, I took a shower and got fully dressed in less than fifteen minutes," he gestured at Oliver and Luis who were also ready. "And look Oliver has been ready and even Luis is ready while these two," he gestured at Chelly who was looking for her other shoe and the door Ebony was behind, "have been getting ready for the last hour and a half!"

"Bite me!" came from behind the bathroom door.

"I wish I could," he grumbled and sat next to Oliver on the bed. He looked his friend over, his mood looked as blue as the dress shirt he wore. "Why so glum?"

"Chelly decided to follow in Ebony's footsteps with the no sex deal," he said.

George patted him on the back. "I'm with you in that boat, buddy."

"I'm not," Luis chuckled from the couch.

They both turned their heads to him and George spoke, "You're not on our boat. You're nowhere _near_ our boat. You are on the fiesta cruise ship, my friend, where they serve fruity drinks with umbrellas and have guys in speedos serving them…_we_ are nowhere _near_ that cruise."

"You might like it," he said.

"I'd rather be stranded," Oliver shook his head.

"Now, now, play nice," Chelly said and came out of the bathroom in her median blue dress and hooked the straps behind her neck, adjusting the halter part of it around her bosom and straightened it out til it fell to her calves. She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped on the matching heels then looked around for her earrings with an irritated sigh.

"It's a zoo in here," Luis said as Chelly hurried past him, looking for her earrings.

"You think this is bad," George snorted and rubbed at the side of his head where his ear used to be but only a scar remained, slightly covered by his hair. "You should see my house."

"God no," Luis shook his head. "You have Bridezilla there."

"Is Luna going?" Chelly asked him and dug through her jewelry box, finding the pair of dangles she was looking for.

"Yeah, she's going with her Dad."

"Really?" she frowned and put an earring on. "My Uncle's going?"

"Yup," Luis said with a smile.

"Oh this should be good," Chelly chuckled.

"Is your family going?" he asked.

"Ha! Adam? Move from the couch? Lorraine? Wear a dress? You're kidding right?"

"Point taken," he nodded and smoothed down his white tie.

George shook his head. "You look like you're dressed for a funeral."

"I don't do white shirts with black ties, it's tasteless," he said and adjusted the cuffs of his black collared shirt. "So I go the other way with it."

"We already figured that," George shrugged and ignored his dirty look.

The bathroom door opened and Ebony came out, putting her foot up on the bed next to George on purpose, letting her leg spill out to adjust her high heel and snap it into place. George whistled in awe. "Wow."

"Shut up," she said without looking up as she brought up the other leg and adjusted the other foot.

"You look good," he reached his hand out to touch her leg and she slapped it away, still fixing her shoe.

"I repeat – shut up," she said and straightened up to adjust her halter. Her dress was identical to Chelly's except a deep ruby red in color. It allowed her to wear her mother's bracelet to cover her Dark Royalty Mark that was still faint on her wrist, and she could wear the earrings Chelly bought her along with her father's ring and of course her engagement ring on the other hand that she never took off.

A camera flashed and she blinked away the dots that speckled her vision before glaring at Chelly who wore a broad grin as she slid her camera into her matching hand bag. "The first of many."

"You're horrible," she grumbled and grabbed her hand bag. "Hey Luis."

"Hello," he nodded and messed with his watch.

Ebony glanced at it. "Is that the one Luna got you?"

"Yup."

"Figure it out yet?"

"Nope. But I notice it has these six points on it," he pointed at the markings of letters at ever ten minute marking on the watch face. "And then has this turner on it on the outside with the little arrow pointing down, I just can't figure it out. Then there's this button on the side but I can't get it to work yet."

Ebony shrugged. "You'll figure it out…are we ready?"

"Yeah," Chelly nodded and Oliver looked relieved. "Oh wait!"

"What now?" he whimpered.

Chelly carefully removed her vial from the mirror it hung off of, the one Snape had made for her. It didn't go with her dress but she couldn't leave it behind, it was a part of her. She fastened it around her neck. "There, now we can go."

She slid the wall apart and sat down adjusting her dress to go down the slide. Ebony and Oliver followed after her. George glanced at Luis. "You going?"

"I'll take the front door," he shook his head and kept his eyes on his watch, "I'll catch up with you guys."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged and followed them out through the slide.

The door slid shut and he sighed glancing at the other door he'd have to crawl out of. He hated her room at times like these. He glanced at his watch, still puzzled with the letters etched on the sides. They weren't compass marks, he never heard of NT being a degree or FW. What was that? Forward or something? He didn't get it. Hadn't gotten it in nearly seven months now. He was about to head to the door when something on the watch caught his attention. It changed. Not the time or the star constellation, but the markings, the letters _changed_. The FW seemed to fade back into the gold framing and HP appeared in its place.

"What the hell…" he whispered and touched it, the outside moved and he gasped startled by it. Carefully he turned the outer face where the arrow pointed down and stopped it on HP. The side button popped out and he bit at his finger, wondering if he should push it. It couldn't hurt…he decided and pushed down on the button.

Nothing happened. At first. Then everything around him seemed to spin in color as the room itself melted away and he stood in nothing but darkness. His eyes widened and before he could make a sound the paint around him reformed into another room in another house and settled into place as he watched wide eyed. The only other people wide eyed as him were Ginny and Harry who stood in the room, staring at him in shock.

One minute he had been in Chelly's room, the next he was obviously at the Weasley's. He waved at Harry in disbelief. "Hi Harry…"

"Uhh…hi Luis…," he glanced around. "When did you get here?"

"Just now apparently," he said still in disbelief.

"How?"

He looked down at his watch and pointed at it, biting his lower lip. "My watch did it."

"Your watch," Ginny repeated, arms still around Harry's neck. He definitely "walked" in on them at a bad time.

"Yeeaaahh," he nodded. "I don't believe it either." He glanced at them, Harry's hands still on Ginny's waist. "This is awkward…I'm just gonna…" he pointed at the door, "go…out the door this time."

He left them in the room and shook his head staring at his watch. Some gift indeed. He could transport. Now if he could just figure out how to do it. He twisted the arrow around to CM and hit the button but nothing happened. He tried again and still got nothing.

"Luis?"

He looked up and saw Chelly, Oliver, Ebony, and George staring at him curiously. "How the hell did you get here so fast?"

He glanced at his watch and back at them. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," Chelly said.

He shrugged, "Okay." He explained it to them and Chelly shook her head.

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Show us."

"Okay…it hasn't worked again though," he twisted the arrow around to ES and hit the button. Nothing happened. "I think I broke it."

"Either that or you can only use it once in awhile," Ebony said. "When it's needed."

He thought about it. "Good point."

"I better go help Mrs. Weasley," Chelly sighed, a little disappointed it didn't work, and stood up.

"I'll go with you," Ebony volunteered.

"I better go see Bill isn't panicking," George grumbled. "He always panics then he gets all growly nowadays."

That left Oliver and Luis. "We better watch TV," Oliver flipped on the screen and the two sat there though Luis's mind kept flicking back to his watch and the transporting capabilities it had. He wondered when, or if, it would ever be useful again.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I own the same four characters_

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**CH. 5 – DUMBLEDORES GIFTS**

Chelly and Ebony were helping Hermione zip up the back of her lavender gown with matching heels she had yet to put on and reassuring her every ten minutes that she looked absolutely fine. "Are you sure?" she'd ask.

"Yes," Chelly huffed and moved a strand of hair from her face and Hermione moved across the room to the mirror. "You look great…flat chested, but great nonetheless."

"Coming from you, blossom," Ebony muttered under her breath.

Chelly knocked her foot into hers. "Like you're one to talk."

"I'm not calling her flat chested," she shook her head.

"I need to fix my hair," Hermione said with a shake of her head.

Chelly rolled her eyes. "The wedding isn't for another six hours. Guest won't arrive for another two, which you lied to me about."

"I said to be here at eleven. I didn't say the wedding as at eleven," she corrected her.

"I could still be sleeping," she grumbled. "And I wouldn't have had to skip breakfast."

"You'll live," Ebony told her.

"Doesn't feel like it," she grumbled and removed her shoes for the time being. Ebony put hers next to Chelly's. Her feet were suffering and there was no need in prolonging it.

"GIRLS GET DOWN HERE!" Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out.

They all groaned and Chelly heaved herself off the couch. "What now? She's had us cook and bake and hang decorations all day. What's left?"

"Repaint the house," Ebony shrugged.

"Wouldn't doubt it," Hermione sighed and they hurried down the stairs. Hermione froze causing Ebony to crash into her and Chelly to crash into her. Rufus Scrimgeour stood in the kitchen, the Minister of Magic himself looking tired and worn. Mrs. Weasley stood nearby lips pressed into a tight line and Ron and Harry were as dumbfounded as well. Stark was there, arms folded over his chest as he stared at Scrimgeour with immense distaste.

"Sorry to intrude," he apologized as he limped towards the table. "Especially since it seems I'm gate crashing a party."

"A wedding," Stark corrected, his tone unpleasant. "But close enough."

"I require a private word with you Harry," he said and Chelly turned to go back up the stairs followed by Ebony, "Also with Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, Miss Murillo, and Miss…Ebony."

Ebony turned her head towards him with cold hazel eyes. "It's Miss Snape, thank you."

"Yes, Miss Snape, I apologize. I just wasn't sure…"

"My last name doesn't change. It will always be Snape, just with an add on to it down the line."

"I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Why don't you all go in the sitting room, it's empty for the time being," Mrs. Weasley gestured to the empty room beyond the kitchen and living room.

"You can lead the way," Scrimgeour addressed Ron. "There will be no need for you to accompany us, Molly…or you Mr. Stark."

He gave the Minister a cold smile that didn't reach his angry eyes. "I'll be right outside the door then."

"Not necessary."

"It is," Molly butted in. "You can never be too careful these days and I'd like an Auror to stay nearby."

Scrimgeour's face said how much he didn't like the idea but ne gave a small nod.

The five exchanged worried glanced as they moved towards the room and shut the double doors behind them. Chelly flicked her wand at the fireplace, causing a nice fire to start to warm the suddenly drafty room. She took a sit in a lounge chair. Scrimgeour took a seat in a weathered armchair that was usually Mr. Weasley's. Hermione sat on the couch and Harry took the middle followed by Ebony. Ron motioned Chelly to scoot and she rolled her eyes, moving her dress closer so Ron could squeeze in next to her. Ebony found it funny that the two who ate the most had to share a rather small sofa chair, pressed together hip to hip.

"I have some questions for the five of you, and I find it best if we do it individually. If you four," he pointed at Harry, Hermione, Ron and Chelly – "can wait upstairs, I will start with Ebony Snape."

"Of course," she mumbled, resting her elbow on the arm of the couch and leaning her head against her hand.

"We're not going anywhere," Harry shook his head while Chelly nodded undoubtfully. "You can speak to us together, or not at all."

Scrimgeour gave Harry a cold appraising look while Ebony's was more of shock that he suggested it first. The Minister spoke, "Very well then, together," he cleared his throat. "I am here as you know, because of Albus Dumbledore's will."

The five exchanged curious glances and shrugs.

"A surprise apparently! You were not aware then that Dumbledore had left you anything?"

"Why would he?" Chelly shrugged. "All I did was work for him."

"Same here," Ebony nodded. "Nothing special…" she met eyes with Chelly and saw they were both thinking of their double agent status Dumbledore secretly had them on with the Death Eaters and the somewhat secret that they were Order members, not to mention he had known their true parentage from the start. "At least not really."

"And me and Hermione?" Ron said.

"Yes all of you."

"Dumbledore died a month ago," Harry interrupted. "Why has it taken this long to give us what he left us?"

"Good question," Chelly raised an eyebrow and folded her arms waiting for the answer.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ebony said with a shake of her head and sneer smile as she inspected her nails. "They wanted to examine whatever he left us," she brought her eyes up to Scrimgeour. "You had no right to do that, Minister."

"I had every right-."

"Just like you had right to go through _my home_?" she seethed angrily. "My father's room, maybe. But you had no right to go through my own…like you could though," she smiled knowing her barrier's had held through and unless the right spell was cast anyone trying to get into it would find themselves knocked back time and time again. She was sure her father had done the same to his own. Those had been up before all this had happened.

Judging by the way he fidgeted she knew he never got in. "I had every right to do both," he said. "The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation gives the Ministry the power the confiscate the contents of a will -."

"The law was created to stop wizards passing on Dark artifacts," said Hermione. "And the Ministry is supposed to have powerful evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them. Are you telling me that you thought Dumbledore was trying to pass us something cursed?"

"Yea, what she said," Chelly agreed.

"So why have you decided to let us have our things now? Can't think of a pretext for them?" Harry asked.

"No, it's because the thirty-one days are up," this time it came from Chelly and Hermione looked at her surprised. "They can't keep the objects longer than that unless they can prove they're dangerous." She caught Hermione's look. "What? I read. I am in the Order, remember?"

"Would you say you were close to Dumbledore, Ronald?" asked Scrimgeour.

Ron look startled. "Me? Not – not really…"

"If you were not very close to Dumbledore, how do you account for the fact that he remembered you in his will? He made exceptionally few personal bequests. The vast majority of his possessions – his private library, his magical instruments, and other personal affects were left to Hogwarts. Why do you think he'd single you out?"

"I…dunno," said Ron. "I…when I say we weren't close…I think he liked me…"

"What about you, Miss Murillo?" he switched to her and she sat unfazed.

"I worked for him for the last couple of years. I am a bit surprised, but it's not a complete shock. We weren't best friends or anything…but working for him led me to know him more."

He turned his head to the other end of the couch. "And you Miss…Snape."

"Can you try saying that without the pause, it's a bit insulting," she told him, eyes as cold as dark fire.

"What of you, Miss Snape," he practically spat the word and her right hand clenched the couch. Harry noticed and settled his hand over hers, rubbing the back of her hand where her scars from Umbridge were still eligible. "What do you think he left you…of all people, something?"

"Because unlike you, Minister, Dumbledore never judged me by who my family was and is."

"Surely it's caused a rift in things," he glanced at Harry then back at her. Harry's hand tightened on hers, sensing her anger and probably feeling his own boiling.

"It did at first, but we have learned to look past that. Like Dumbledore always did for me. I've known him all my life, I practically grew up in that castle…it's no surprise to me, _Minister_," she said the word with the same bile he had and kept her Slytherin smile on her face.

Scrimgeour seemed to grow tired of her and reached for a bag next to him. Harry gave her a smile and nod of approval and Chelly was chuckling quietly to herself. He removed an object from the bag, it looked like a silver cigarette lighter but it had the power to suck all the light from a place, and restore it, with a simple click. Scrimgeour leaned forward and handed it to Ron who took it looking stunned.

"It's valuable," the Minister said. "Maybe even unique. Certainly it is of Dumbledore's design. Why would he have left you an item so rare?"

Ron shook his head, bewildered.

"Dumbledore must have taught thousands of students," Scrimgeour persevered. "Yet the only ones he remembered in his will were you five. Why is that?"

"Cuz we're so pretty," Chelly beamed.

He ignored her. "To what use did he think you would put his Deluminator, Mr. Weasley?"

"Put out lights I'm guessing," mumbled Ron. "What else can I do with it?"

He read on with the will and handed Hermione a large book she would find "entertaining and instructive".

"Why do you think Dumbledore left you that book, Miss Granger?"

"He knew I liked books," she shrugged opening the cover to look at the pages and pictures.

"But why that book?"

"I don't know."

"Did you ever discuss codes or meanings with Dumbledore?"

"No, I didn't," said Hermione and sniffled a bit meaning they'd have to fix her make-up later. "And if the Ministry hasn't found any hidden codes in this book in thirty-one days, I doubt I will."

He went on with the will to Chelly in which Dumbledore left her the Revival Potion and hoped she'd put it to good use yet hoped she'd never have to use, but if she did to choose carefully with her heart as it could only be used one time once the bottle glowed blue. He handed it to her and she turned the vial in her hands, a bit disappiointed she didn't get a book or Deluminator.

"Why do you suppose he gave you that Revival potion, Ms. Murillo?" he asked her.

She stared at him, annoyed by the question. "In hopes I'd never have to use it."

"But why that potion and why to you?"

"Because he ran out of other cool stuff?"

"Why the potion, Miss Murillo?"

She shrugged. "I'm guessing as a joke since I always sucked at Potions. Thought he'd get a last laugh or something…funny old geezer," she smiled fondly at his memory. "Any more questions?"

He seemed to ignore her and moved onto Ebony who in the will was given the compass of light which would point her to where her heart wanted to be and show her the truth at all cost of the present. He handed it to her and she held it in her palm, lifting the lid to look at its clear face, no marking on it what so ever. The arrow didn't spin in any direction like a normal compass, the face remained plain and white. It seemed broken.

"Why did he-."

"I know the question, I just don't know the answer. I have no clue why he gave me a broken compass. I worked for him, that's all. He was a good friend and good man, you don't have to remind me what happened, Scrimgeour. Believe it or not, I'm very aware of it all."

He moved on to Harry who got the Snitch he had caught in his first game ever of Quidditch as a reminder of perseverance and skill and held it up instead of giving it to Harry. "Why did Dumbledore leave you a Snitch?"

"No idea," said Harry. "For the reasons you just said, I guess…to remind me what you can get if you…persevere or whatever."

"You think it's a mere symbolic keepsake then?"

"Yea. What else could it be?"

"I'm asking the questions," he said shifting in his chair closer to them.

"You don't say," Chelly snorted.

"That's enough from you, Ms. Murillo," he said.

"You have no right to talk to her like that," Ebony said. "You can continue with your parade of questions, but enough with the side remarks on who we are or you will find out just how much I am like my family."

That seemed to put Scrimgeour in his place. "I noticed what remained of your birthday cake was a Snitch. Why?"

"Gee, maybe something was hidden in the icing," Hermione laughed.

"Not the icing, but a Snitch is a very good place to hide something small. Because Snitchs have flesh memories. A Snitch isn't touched by bare skin before a match, not even by the maker who wears gloves. It carries an enchantment by which it can identify the first human to lay hands upon it, in case of disputed capture or malfunction. This Snitch will remember your touch, Potter. So it will open only for you."

Scrimgeour leaned in carefully to hand it to him and they all held their breath as he dropped it into Harry's palm. Nothing happened. "That was dramatic," said Harry coolly. The other four laughed.

"Is that all?"

"No, he also left you the sword of Godric Gryffindor in hopes," he read from the will. "'you will always remember where you belong and certain others will know where their hearts stand true'. What others?"

"We don't know but where is it?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately the sword was not Dumbledore's to give away. It will remain at Hogwarts."

"Maybe he thought it would look nice on my wall," Harry shrugged. Before the question could be asked. This was growing dull.

"This is not a joke, Potter!" growled Scrimgeour. "Was it because Dumbledore believed that only the sword of Godric Gryffindor could defeat the Heir of Slytherin? Did he wish to give you that sword, Potter, because he believed, as do many, that you are the one destined to destroy You-Know-Who?"

"Interesting theory," said Harry. "Has anyone ever tried sticking Voldermort with a sword? Maybe the Ministry should try that instead of wasting their time stripping down Deluminators or covering up Azkaban breakouts. So is this what you've been doing, Minister, shut up in your office, trying to break open a Snitch and figure out a compass? Raiding people's rooms who have had nothing to do with anything except being unjustifiably deemed suspicious because of their family. People are dying – I was nearly one of them and one of those cursed objects you try to find made it into our school a little over a month ago and nearly killed Ebony," e gestured to the faded burn mark on her neck. "Voldermort chased me across three countries, killed Mad Eye Moody and my bird, but there's been no word about any of them from the Ministry, has there? And you expect us to cooperate with you?"

"You go too far!" shouted Scrimgeour and jumped to his feet as did Harry followed by Ebony and Chelly who moved to his other side. Scrimgeour pointed his wand at Harry, jabbing him in the chest, burning a hole in his shirt.

"I don't think so," Ebony growled. "_Expelliarmus!"_

The wand snapped from the Minister's hand into hers and he looked bewildered since she carried no wand. "Something my father taught me, you don't always need a wand in your hand to do spells when other items can carry the same power of a wand…and you can't arrest me for removing your wand while you're threatening a minor…"

"You desolate girl," he snarled. "No better than you father, the betrayer."

"Look who's talking," she mumbled.

"Wretched, I call you."

"Enough with the name calling," Chelly growled from deep in her throat.

"And you are just as insolent."

"Insolent?" she snorted. "I have two older siblings and an old fashion mother, not to mention I lived with Snape for a few months out a year every year. You're gonna have to do a lot better than that because I never cared much for stupid politicians, you know. They always seem to do more bad then good and it just keeps getting worse, you've got to be the dumbest one yet and that's saying something."

"Hold your tongue, Murillo, or I will see it's removed."

"Try and get it," she glared at him. "See what happens?"

Harry put his arms out blocking both girls from doing anything. "Don't give him reason to arrest you. It's what he wants though I'm flattered by your loyalty."

"Remembered you're not in school, Potter?" He said, breathing hard in Harry's face. "Remembered I'm not Dumbledore, who forgave your insolence and insubordination? You may wear that scar like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen year old boy to tell me how to do my job! It is time you learned some respect."

"It's time you earned it," said Harry calmly.

Scrimgeour took a step forward and took a sudden step back as he hit a barrier. "That's close enough, Minister."

Ebony turned her head to see Stark standing there having entered the room after hearing the Minister yell. He had his wand out, standing there in his tuxedo, a hard look on his face, almost like the wizard version of James Bond. He stepped closer to them, standing just in front of them. "I think you're done here…"

Scrimgeour seemed to regain his composure and looked at Harry. "I regret your attitude," he said angrily. "You seem to think that the Ministry does not desire what you – what Dumbledore – desired. We ought to be working together."

"I don't like your methods, Minister, remember?" said Harry.

Harry raised his hand to show the scars of rules on the back of it. "None of us do," he said and Ebony showed him her hand while Chelly lifted both of hers then promptly displayed a finger to let him know how she felt on the matter. Ebony silently handed him his wand back and he snapped it from her causing Stark to shift to her side.

He looked at the Professor. "As an Auror, you must see what the Ministry is doing?"

"I see they're doing nothing in helping the Order get to the bottom of this and find the solution t stopping Voldermort. They are more or less preventing us from doing our jobs with mindless side tracks and doing nothing to help us with the problems that are most evident," he said cooly.

The minister's lip twitched. "I will be leaving," he turned to leave and remembered something. "By all rights I am allowed to do this for the misconduct against a power figure like myself," he flicked his wand and both Chelly and Ebony's heads snapped to the side, hands going to their cheeks by reaction. "Now you know your places."

Ebony drew her hand back to see the blood that tinged it. "And I'm sure you will be put in yours before the month is over, Minister." She stayed bent in the direction she had been placed in with the slap but knew he paused before leaving the room. Harry was already moving her hand away, a look of concern on his face as he moved his other hand under her chin to get a better look.

"I'm okay," she told him and noticed Stark was wiping blood from his own cheek. "He hit you too."

He shook his head, "He wasn't aiming for me. I saw his eyes move to Harry and got in the way," he waved his wand and the cut disappeared from his cheek leaving on a faint line in its wake that would disappear in an hour or two tops.

"Son of a bitch!" Chelly shouted as Ron and Hermione both tried to look at her cheek. "I fucking just did my make-up! That prick, I'll smack him into next week, make Umbridge look like a saint!"

"It's not that bad," Hermione reassured her. "We can heal this."

"What's all the noise?" Oliver asked entering the room with Luis and Arthur.

"Is he gone?" Harry asked. "Because I think Chelly may murder him if he's not."

"What happened?" Oliver asked concerned and crossed the room on four strides, moving Ron aside to look at Chelly's bleeding cheek. "Baby, what happened to your cheek?" he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held to her cut face.

"I'll tell you what the fuck happened! That asshole sat here and talked shit and when I put him in his place after he burnt a hole in Harry's shirt by the way, he _cut_ me and Ebony with his wand and tried to cut Harry!"

"What happened?" Arthur asked Harry who still stood with Ebony, his arm around her shoulders now as his other hand cleaned the blood from her cheek. It had stopped bleeding at least.

"Nothing. It happened as Chelly said. He gave us things Dumbledore left in his will and when Chelly and Ebony stood up for me he had them punished. He would have punished me too, but Professor Stark got in the way," said Harry.

"The nerve of the man!" Arthur bellowed.

"He might have done worse if I hadn't come in when I did. He looked as if he were about to curse Harry, he was so pissed," Stark explained.

"It's okay," Ebony told him. "Let's not ruin Bill's day because of him." Arthur seemed to remember the wedding.

"Yes right. You lot should go get ready then, guests should be arriving shortly." Harry helped Ebony out the room and up the stairs though she reassured him she could walk unassisted while Oliver more or less held onto Chelly's arms to keep her from going berserk. They went into Hermione's temporary room and closed the door behind the seven of them. Stark had stayed behind to explain what had happened to the other's who were concerned.

"George would probably be in here if he wasn't forced to await guests with Fred," Luis said and sat in a chair.

"Fred and George? Greeters?" she chuckled at the thought and looked in the mirror. The cut had scabbed over. Nothing a healing charm wouldn't fix. Chelly was still grumbling as she inspected her own.

"So what prizes did you get?" Luis asked excited.

"I got a Deluminator, Chelly a Potion, Hermione an old book, Harry his Snitch and Ebony a broken compass."

"That doesn't sound so fun," he pouted, the excitement he had momentarily had leaving him.

"Why the hell did he leave you a Snitch?" Ron asked the question on his mind.

"I've no idea," said Harry holding it in his hand. "It's the first one I ever caught before my first game. But it's not doing anything?"

Ebony thought it over and turned from the mirror, her cheek perfect with the concealer. "Harry, do you remember your first game?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"Then you remember you didn't catch it with you hand," she smiled.

"The one I nearly swallowed," he said getting it at last. He pressed his mouth to the Snitch but nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. "It's not doing anything."

Ebony frowned. "That can't be. I may have been on the ground near the goal post helping out an unconscious Oliver," she added with a smile and he glared at her, "but I remember you nearly swallowing it."

Harry's eyes moved up in memory. "Oliver…Scrimgeour said the Snitch knew by memory of touch. The first person to touch it in case it was tampered but then it knew whoever caught it in the game. I was second to touch this Snitch," he turned to the older Gryffindor, "Oliver you were first. You touched it when you showed me what it could do." He handed it to him.

"Me?" he frowned.

"Take it."

Oliver slowly picked it from Harry's hand. It didn't open but it did get warmer and glow. "Whoa. Here Harry, you were second. I did my part."

Harry took it from him and held it to his mouth but it wouldn't open.

"There's writing on it!" Luis pointed and jumped up from his chair to get a better look.

Engraved on the gold surface were elegant words that Harry recognized as Dumbledore's writing. _I open at the close_.

Chelly groaned and sat back in the chair next to the vanity. "Him and his riddles! Even when he's dead they keep on coming!"

"I don't get it and I don't want to think about it. I still have to get through this wedding," Ebony sighed.

"What of this book?" Hermione flipped it open with a frown. "The tale of Beedle the Bard…never heard of it."

"You've never heard of it!" Ron asked dumbfounded. "Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm not. Do you know of them?" she asked.

"Course I do. All kids do, right Oliver," Ron said.

Oliver nodded. "Yeah, I grew up with those tales like most everyone."

"Who can forget them," Luis shivered next to the seat by the door. "Freaked me out as a kid."

"It still does," Chelly snickered. "You never got over _Cursed Lake_."

"All old kids' stories are supposed to be Beedle's aren't they?" Ron went on. "_Fountain of Fair Fortune_, _The Wizard_ and _the Hopping Pot_, _Babbitty Rabbitty_ _and her Cackling Pot_."

"Excuse me," Hermione giggled. "What was that last one?"

"Come off it!" Ron said in disbelief looking back and forth to Harry and Hermione. "You two never heard of them."

"Ron, you know full well Harry and I grew up with Muggles. We didn't hear those stories. We grew up with _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_ and _Cinderella_."

"What's that an illness?" asked Ron.

"Oi!" Chelly exclaimed. "_Cinderella_ is awesome. It's as good as _Little Mermaid_ and _Sleeping Beauty_, thought I prefer the Disney versions."

Ron stared at her like she was speaking a foreign language, "You're weird."

"And you're stupid," she shot back.

"Okay," Ebony stood up before a fight could break out because with Chelly's current mood, they'd be identifying Ron by his dental records. "You all need to go so we can finish getting ready and Harry needs to take his Poly Juice potion so no one can recognize him during this."

She shuffled the boys out the room and shut the door sitting next to Chelly while Hermione, once again, redid her hair. "What a day."

"And it hasn't even begun really…" Chelly said and moved the hair from her face.

Ebony frowned. "Chell…did you heal your cut?"

"No, why?" she touched her cheek and felt it…or felt nothing was more to the point as she turned around to look in the mirror. There was no cut on her cheek. It had healed completely. "That's not possible."

Ebony leaned in close so Hermione wouldn't hear, "It is if your father is a werewolf…making you part."

Her eyes widened and she stared at her. "You think so?"

She nodded. "Your sense of smell…your growl…your anger…you may not go furry…but you got the advantages at some rate."

She touched her cheek again, feeling the smooth skin. She had felt her anger downstairs bubbling in her to a boil and she wanted to rip his throat out with her hands…it should have scared her, but it didn't. It was all a part of her now and as Dumbledore had said, it only mattered what she did with it. "What a day?"

Ebony touched the Death Royalty Mark on her wrist beneath the bracelet, she could see it was darker than before, more visible with her own anger and spite. She turned her black pearl ring on her finger. "Like I said, it's not over yet."


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I bet you can guess who I own by now_

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CH. 6 – THE WEDDING

Ebony sat a round table decorated with a white cloth with Chelly, Luis, and Hermione outside under the clear skies. At long last the wedding part of it was over and guests danced while others mingled, including Luna and Chelly's Uncle Xenophilius whom she had called Uncle Xeno with a smile and a hug, not once batting an eye that they were wearing bright yellow robes. Her Uncle adorned his with a large gold chain that had a triangular eye at the end of it and Luna with a sunflower in her hair. It only mildly surprised Ebony while Hermione couldn't help staring wide eyed. Luis, on the other hand, didn't so much as blink.

Somehow Harry, the twins, and Ron managed to escape, Harry looking more like a Weasley under disguise now, after having bad experiences with Ron's Aunt Muriel. "Nightmare she is," Ron said and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He blinked noticing Hermione. "You look great!"

"Always the tone of surprise," she said with a smile though and Chelly lifted her eyebrows at Ebony who kicked her under the table after reading the look.

"Who knew we girl's could clean up," Chelly shrugged and rubbed at her foot.

"I did since I spent four hours this morning watching the process," grumbled Oliver from her other side.

"I'm sure it didn't take Hermione that long," Ron said and Chelly bit her cheek to keep from saying anything about the love birds. Luckily enough Ebony didn't have to veer conversation to avert Chelly's attention as a certain Bulgarian made his way to their table causing Chelly to tap at her arm in case she hadn't noticed. Luis had curiously turned around to see what had Chelly in a tether and his mouth fell open, causing him to nearly topple out of his chair.

"You look wonderful," Viktor said, his dark eyes sliding over all three of the girl's with such a look even George put his arm around Ebony's shoulders.

Chelly giggled, actually giggled. "This old thing…thank you though…you look great. You always look great."

Ebony rolled her eyes.

"Viktor!" Hermione gapped. "I didn't know – it's nice to see you."

"How come you're here?" Ron asked.

"Fleur invited me," said Krum.

"Hermione, I feel like dancing," Ron grabbed her hand and all but yanked her out of her seat.

"What- okay," she waved at Viktor and followed Ron.

"I'm suddenly hungry, let's go get some food," Oliver said and reached for Chelly's hand.

She kept smiling at Viktor, "Go ahead…I'll wait here."

"With as much as you eat, I'll need your help carrying the plate back," he moved her out of her seat and had to more or less push her to the food table.

"Would you like a seat Viktor?" Ebony gestured at the empty one.

Viktor took the seat that just so happened to be next to Luis who was doing his best not to smile too broadly or stare too much. "I don't think your friend is pleased to see me," Viktor said.

"Which friend? Who wouldn't be happy to see you? It's not me. I know that," Luis blabbered and picked up a glass of water to shut himself off.

Viktor chuckled. "No, not you. The other red head."

"Ohh, my brother Ron," George nodded. "He's like that with everyone. Get's nervous and says things. And this is our cousin, Barry, don't know if you met him before and this fella on your right is Luis. He went to Hogwarts."

Viktor shook his head and Ebony saw Luis grin yet again. "I don't remember you from there. I don't forget faces easily."

"I-I was overseas during that particular time. Missed the Yule Ball…haven't forgiven myself for it and Chelly won't let me forget."

"She's the girl in the blue dress, no?"

"Yea," Ebony nodded. "The one with the elephant appetite and jealous boyfriend."

"You are Ebony," he nodded. "I remember you. Your father was Severus Snape."

"Yes…my father _is_ Severus Snape."

"I am sorry to hear what happened," he said with a nod.

"So are a lot of people," she said and took a drink from her glass in hopes it would change subjects.

Luis caught the hint across the table. Either that or he had finally found his voice to say something to the Bulgarian he had a crush on. "So…uh…Viktor, how's Quidditch going?"

"Very well," he nodded with a proud smile. "Our team is going to the championships next month. You should come see."

"Really!" Luis squealed in delight.

"Yes, all of you," Viktor nodded and then glanced over to where Ron was glaring at him from the dance floor. "Well…almost all of you," he turned back to Luis. "What do you think?"

Luis smiled and nearly fell sideways out of his chair as he blushed deeply. Viktor grabbed his arm to steady him. "Careful, you almost fell."

"Did I?" Luis said in a dreamy state. "Didn't notice."

"You are weird," he said but smiled nonetheless.

"Forgive Luis," Ebony said and made a loopy gesture by her head. "He's been under this tarp all day. It affects your head after awhile, all the heat and humidity."

"Maybe you just need to get some fresh air," Viktor suggested.

Luis just grinned, still in his dreamy state. "Yeah…maybe…"

"I will join you since it seems your other friends don't want me around," Viktor stood up and gestured for Luis to follow. "Come, let's go."

Luis stared wide eyed before bolting from his chair to follow Krum. Ebony smiled from behind her glass with a shake of her head.

"I think that went well," George nodded.

"I've never seen Luis move so fast in my life unless there was a sell at the GAP," she agreed.

"And unless the pants he was buying had Krum in them," added Harry with a smile.

Ebony chuckled and changed subjects. "So what did Muriel say to you earlier? You seemed a bit…upset or confused."

Harry's demeanor changed, his smile fell and he concentrated more on the glass in front of him. "It was nothing really…"

"Anything she says is bogus," said George. "She's looney a bit."

"I don't think she was so…looney on this…I'm not sure though yet."

"What was it?" Ebony asked.

He eyed her and she could tell he was trying to decide if he should tell her or not. "It involved Dumbledore living in Godric's Hollow."

Ebony frowned not seeing the big connection.

Chelly and Oliver chose then to sit down with them. She looked a bit peeved, "I can't believe you're jealous of him."

"You drool over him," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm with you."

"Then be more with me on your mind," he countered.

She huffed and folded her arms over her chest.

Hermione sat down in a chair and rubbed at her feet. "That's it. I can't dance anymore," she glanced at Harry who was still in his depressed thinking state. "Harry…are you okay?"

Before Harry could answer her something large and silver fell through the canopy in the shape of a lynx. Heads turned and the music stopped as it spoke with Kingsley's voice. "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Ebony shot a look at Chelly who looked at her with equal intensity and nodded her head with the same thought. They had to get out of there. It was time. She stood up from her chair and George grabbed her hand to pull her to safety. She stopped him, tugging her arm back.

"We have to go," he told her, still holding her hand. "The Death Eater's will be here."

She looked up into his face and touched his cheek with her hand. "I know…that's why I have to leave…it's time George…"

He frowned and then his features softened as it dawned on him. "Not yet…Ebony, please stay."

"I can't, you know I have to do this. You knew this was going to happen."

"I didn't think so soon."

"Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't sooner," she smiled feebly. She leaned into him and kissed him once last time fighting back her tears. "Be careful, George."

"I should say the same," he said and pulled her into a last hug. "Stay out of danger as impossible as that may be for you."

"I will…," she said though doubted she'd stay true to her word. "I'll be back, I promise. I have to marry you, remember?"

He touched the ring on her finger. "I never forget," he kissed her hand. "I love you…"

"I love you too…," she looked back to Chelly. "I have to go…" She moved away until her hand fell out of his to where Chelly was saying good-bye to Oliver. She managed to seize Harry's arm before he fled with Hermione and Ron. "Good luck, Harry."

He nodded and squeezed her hand. "You too…"

"I'll see you again," she smiled. "I promise."

"Be careful…"

She let him go and watched him disappear with his friends. Ebony mumbled, "You too," and walked to where Chelly was saying good-bye to Oliver.

"Chelly, we have to get out of here," Oliver said and her by the elbow. She stopped walking causing him to stumble back to her in the mess of the crowd. "Why are you stopping?"

"Because I have to stop here," he said solemnly.

"Why? Trouble's coming, we have to go help the Order."

She shook her head. "I have to help Ebony."

"She is part of the Order. You will be."

"Not with that, Oliver," she told him and held his hand in hers. "I have to help her find her father."

"But why?"

"Because she needs me too…and I have to find some things out for myself too…"

"I'll go with you then."

"No," she shook her head and pulled him closer to her so she could look into his eyes. "You have to go back to Hogwarts. You have to watch out for Luna and Luis for me."

"You can do that yourself."

"I'm not going back this year, Oliver," she told him. "Neither is Ebony…we have another mission to do…something you can't know about but please trust me on this, please."

He nodded his head and brushed the hair from her face, "I do trust you, I always trust you."

She kissed him fiercely, knowing it would be her last for a long time and it hurt to pull away. "I have to go now…"

"When will I hear from you…"

"You will…trust me…"

He kissed her forehead. "Always."

"I love you."

He smiled at her sadly, not wanting to let her go. "Love you always too."

Ebony picked that moment to touch her shoulder and gesture towards the empty meadow where shadows moved from beyond the barrier. Death Eater's were here. "We have to go."

She gave one last look at Oliver and moved away from him. They moved to the back of the house and found Stark, tie undone, wand in his hand. He noticed them and made eye contact with Ebony. He nodded his head and gestured for them to hurry. He would distract the Death Eater's from seeing them. With a heavy heart, both Disapparted out of the wedding and back into Chelly's room where they wasted no time grabbing their pre packed bags and Apparating to Ebony's house that had lay abandoned for the last year. They slowly trudged towards the dark house on the empty lot and once close enough in, Ebony set up the security boundaries with her wand so no intruders could pass without the password or her invitation.

She stared at the dark house, at the cold weariness it possessed in the dark yet was more inviting than the dark itself because it was familiar. It was safety and it was closer to her father than she could be. They stepped inside, putting more spells on the doors and windows to elude others. Chelly went up stairs to change out of her dress and into more comfortable clothes involving sweats and a t-shirt and sat on the couch, flipping on the television. Ebony stood staring out the window, not noticing how much time had passed or how long she had stood there. It was long enough that she could feel Chelly glancing at her every now and then in wonder but never speaking a word. Her own thoughts wondered if Luis and Luna were okay. Cracking her knuckles she cleared her mind and touched her nargil bracelet. Her vision blurred to show Luna on the train to Hogwart's with a smiling Luis and a worried yet concealing Oliver along with Neville sharing a compartment on the train. It cleared and she let out the breath was holding. They were okay, they were going to be heading to Hogwart's. Nothing had happened to them. She looked over at Ebony, wishing she could see Snape, but felt blocked from him. He had done something to stop her from seeing what he was doing. He wouldn't be able to block her forever though and when his guard dropped she'd se, at least for Ebony's sake.

There was a knock on the front door and Ebony cautiously moved to it, glancing out the peep hole before speaking, "Password."

"Disney…why the hell did you pick Disney," the voice on the other side grumbled and she opened the door to let Stark in. He shut the door behind him, the barrier going back in place. He looked disheveled, his dark hair hung a bit in his eyes no matter how much he brushed it away. There were spots of dirt smeared on his face and his tuxedo was torn at the sleeve, she could see a cut on his arm beneath it. "That was fun."

"What happened?" Chelly asked as he sat on the couch with a slight wince.

"I'm getting too old for this is what happened," he said with a sigh.

"You're like what, nine or ten years older than us?"

"Exactly," he said.

"Is everyone all right?" Ebony asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, they crashed the party. Threw around some spells, we took out one or two of them, the rest ran. None were your dad."

"But everyone is all right?"

He nodded his head, "No one was badly hurt. Everyone is okay. I don't think a lot of them know you're here."

"But you did," she said.

He smiled at her, "I always know where you are, Eb. I know you."

She smiled at that comforting thought. "You'll be back to Hogwart's right."

He nodded and let out a deep breath. "They're really going to not like me there if things get worse and the school gets run over. With Scrimgeour dead, Voldermort can put whoever he wants in power. We're in real trouble now. He'll have Hogwart's in no time."

"Oh God…Luna and Luis and Oliver will be there," Chelly said with a hand over her mouth.

He patted her shoulder. "I'm not going to let anything happen to them."

"You watch your back too, Stark," Ebony said. "I lost enough without adding you to the list."

"Comforting to know you care," he remarked but his eyes stayed soft. He took out his wand and healed the cut on his arm. "What a waste of a perfectly good tux…"

"So what do you do now?"

"Now I go home and wait to hear from the rest of the Order…there's not much we can do if Voldermort has the Ministry. We're sitting ducks, he'll be waiting to take us out. So I will go home and when the time comes I will go to Hogwart's and work from the inside with Luis and Oliver," he stood to his feet. "Lock the door behind me."

"Of course," Chelly snorted.

Ebony let him out and he paused for a moment in the doorway, putting a hand on her arm, but not looking at her. "You be careful too…you're not the only one who's lost enough."

She nodded her head, not sure of what to say. She shut the door and the spell around it went up, the locks sliding into place.

"At least they're safe," Chelly sighed.

Ebony just watched the darkness beyond the window barely lit by the pale moonlight and found that the darkness out there, the darkness mixed in the night of the threat was not as different as the comfort she felt in her own home. It didn't scare her though it should have. She was part of the Order yes, part of the good, yes. But the good that mixed in her also ran with the darkness that marked her flesh. The same darkness that flowed in Chelly's blood she knew. And it was just as comforting as the good as she found herself walking that fine line of good and evil and fighting in the gray area of it all…and she wondered in her thoughts, if it came down to it in the end, if everything went utterly wrong…could she sacrifice Harry for the life of her father? Could she sacrifice any one she knew if it meant saving her father? She rubbed her arms, shivering at the thoughts that ran through her and moved from the window to the couch next to Chelly. Though part of her said no, the good part at least wouldn't give a life of a friend for him to Voldermort. The darker half, the one that pierced her skin and burned through her veins said yes, that it'd be done in a heartbeat. Ebony didn't know which side would win out. She didn't want to ever have to find out.

**CH 7 – ON THEIR OWN**

Luis stared out the window of the train at the green meadows and lush hills against the clear blue sky. He figured then he didn't have the power to change the weather with his mind and emotions or the sky would have been gray and cloudy after everything that had happened in the last two weeks. The wedding had been the start of it. He wasn't sure what had happened, it was all so quick. The Patronus had announced the Minister's death and the Death Eater's were coming when he was standing just outside the tent with Viktor Krum. Chaos erupted then and he lost his other friends in the crowd but managed to Disaaparate with Viktor back to his house that was magically secured from any attack due to his mother's paranoia that served right. He waited there, in his room with Viktor, for word from any of the other's. He only received one from Luna saying she was all right and then Oliver had managed to get to his house. When he asked about Chelly and Ebony he was told they had left and when he asked where, Oliver looked as glumly as he did now sitting across from him. No one knew where they were. Just as no one knew where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were. But it was safer for them, he figured. If the Voldermort had taken over the Ministry the last place Harry would be safe was at Hogwart's especially with Dumbledore dead.

He looked down at the old newspaper clipping in his lap. It was especially dangerous for Hermione to come back with the new "Muggle-born Registration". It was nothing new that Voldermort didn't like "mud bloods", witches and wizards who were born to non magical parents. This was no surprise though Luis felt it was going to be bad seeing as how this way Voldermort would know who was Muggle born and dispose of them easier. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Next would be Half Bloods, which he was. His mother was a full blood witch but his father was a regular guy, no magical abilities whatsoever, just like his younger brother who received none of their mother's abilities and was dubbed a Squib.

"This feels weird," Luis said out loud.

"I know," Oliver nodded. "It's almost empty with half of us missing."

"Everything will be okay," said Luna reading a book next to Neville.

"I hope you're right," Luis muttered.

"I worry about them too," said Oliver, picking up the Daily Prophet for the day and removing the rubber band.

"I just hope they find what they're looking for…that this ends soon."

Oliver unfolded the paper and read through it. "Don't under estimate them…they'll be okay…we'll think of some way to help them…to see them again."

Luis touched his watch and wondered if it would ever work again. "I hope so…this year can't get any worse."

Oliver's eyes widened as he read the headline on one of the pages and snapped his head to Luis, spreading it across for him to see, "I think it just did."

Luis's jaw dropped and he let out a groan of disbelief. The Headline read "**Severus Snape Confirmed As Hogwart's Headmaster"**, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"This isn't going to go well," Neville muttered across from them, Luna seemed unfazed.

Oliver leaned in closer to Luis. "At least we know where Snape is…and I'm betting Ebony does too by this point…"

"Which means they'll try to get to the school…" Luis caught on.

"Maybe…or maybe not…it might be too dangerous for them just to walk right in…"

"But at least she knows where her father is," Luis pointed out.

"I'm not so sure that's good news or not," said Oliver. "She'll want to come back…but something Chelly said hinted that there's more to what they're doing then her dad…I mean with Harry, Ron, and Hermione gone and all…it's not a coincidence that they disappear too…Dumbledore always had her watching out for Harry."

"You're thinking that hasn't changed? That his dying wish was for them to follow Harry?"

"Maybe…I don't know," he glanced at the paper. "And now I'm starting to believe they did that for a reason and it had nothing to do with not trusting us. I think it was so they can't get the truth from us, even with a potion…"

Luis rubbed at his eyes, already feeling the weariness of the year upon him and they hadn't even arrived at the school yet. He hoped Ebony and Chelly were at least taking this better than they were.

"He's at the school, Chell!" Ebony shouted throughout the house as she received her Daily Prophet. It was usually scandalized with lies printed from the now corrupted more so Ministry that Voldermort was puppeting. After the Muggle Registration she just about had to restrain Chelly from going on a mass murder spree, especially since Umbridge was in charge of that section, smiling and cheery in the paper. But today when she opened her paper she had dropped her coffee cup and felt her heart skip a few beats. Her father was at Hogwarts, his picture stared right back at her in black and white.

"What?" Chelly came bounding into the kitchen, hair still wet from the shower she had just finished.

She held the paper up so she could read the headline. "He's at Hogwart's!"

"Shit!" Chelly took it from her reading it over. "Luis is having a freaking heart attack about this. I know it!"

Ebony grinned, "Do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"We can go back to Hogwart's! It's done. The waiting and worrying about my father is done. He's there, Chell. We can go home."

Chelly set the paper down and bit her lower lip, "I hate to burst your bubble, Eb. But we can't go home…we can't go back to Hogwart's."

"Why not? My Dad's there. This is done. This whole point for me was finding my dad and I just did."

Chelly shook her head. "No that was part of it. So, yeah, part of it is done. We found Snape…but we're not done."

"What do you mean?"

"We have to help Harry. That was the whole point of all this. This is what Dumbledore sent us to do – to help Harry and stop Voldermort. If we go back to the school, we can't do any of that. Harry's not there and we'd be trapped playing Death Eater's if we do. Not to mention your Dad would worry more about protecting you than playing his part in all this."

"But he's there," she tapped the paper with her finger.

"I know, which means we don't have to worry about him anymore," she explained. "But our job isn't done. It doesn't stop there. We have to wait and help Harry."

"We don't even know when or if he needs our help!" she said agitated.

"He will and we'll know."

"How?"

"My visions for one."

"But your visions don't always pull through," she said.

"Your compass then," Chelly said.

"It's broken, Chell," she reminded her.

"I don't think Dumbledore gave you a broken compass. He wasn't that crazy."

"He wasn't? He sent us on a wild goose chase. All of us. Harry has to find Horcruxes that he doesn't even know where to look because no one knows what they are and all Dumbledore could tell us was that Voldermort keeps one near to him and apparently I've known what one was this entire time. I don't know what to do or where to start. All I know is the one person in my life who's always known is at Hogwart's and that's where I want to be."

She shook her head. "We can't, Eb…you know that. If we were to go back and something did happen to Harry you'd never forgive yourself."

Ebony sat in a chair by the table, defeated by the words only because they were true. As much as she wanted to run back to Hogwart's into the comforting embrace of her father, she couldn't. Not only would she be putting herself and Chelly and her father in jeopardy of being caught, but she'd be risking Harry's life as well as Ron and Hermione's if, God forbid, anything were to happen. There was no way she would be able to leave the school once knowingly she was on campus. Death Eater's would be surrounding it and there'd be no getting out of it. It'd be like walking straight into hell's lair. She touched the newspaper, her hand covering the picture of her father. He was safe…that was all that mattered. It did nothing to ease the void in her though it relieved some of the pressure. He was still gone. They were still apart. Nothing could fill it until they were a family again.

She looked up at Chelly and took a deep breath as her friend waited for her reply, "So what do we do next?"

"We wait," Chelly shrugged and waved her wand to clean up the broken cup on the floor.

Ebony nodded her head, biting at a fingernail. It was all they could do. Wait for a sign from Harry. Wait for them to need their help and do whatever they could to help, to make this nightmare end so she could go back to her life, however normal it had been. Like Luis, Stark, and Oliver, though unbeknownst to them, they were on their own and waiting for a sign.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I own the Snape at heart Ebony, the half wolf Chelly, the advancing Luis, and the good Slytherin Stark…I want to own a certain Hufflepuff…but he's dead since this is canon…the AU after this he's not though…_

_Happy 4th everyone!!..hopefully this chapter packs a few fireworks for the occassion._

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CH8 – TV

The two approached the staircase and were stopped by Professor McGonagall as they reached the top. She looked more worn out now. Dark spots lined her eyes and she seemed to have aged more since the spring.

"Mr. Lagunas's, nice to see you again," McGonagall said with a tired smile as her eyes searched behind them for what was missing in the crowd. "I take it, Chelly and Ebony aren't here this year?"

Luis shook his head. "No, they couldn't be here."

"I was hoping they would considering…" she trailed off and her eyes darted to where Snape sat speaking with other "teachers" or "security" who were definitely Death Eater's. Oliver recognized two of them. Dolohov being one and a woman whose name he couldn't remember. "Very well then," she said snapping out of her daze. "You will have your same room, Oliver, only this time your roommate will be Luis."

"What?" they both said at the same time.

"I feel it is safer that way with things the way they are here this year. You two are better together than apart. And the only other available accommodations would be in the dungeon with Professor Snape…"

Luis was quick to throw his arm around Oliver's shoulders, "Looks like I'm your new roommate!"

"Excellent," McGonagall said as Oliver pushed Luis's arm off of him, "Get to your rooms. Call on the House Elves for food if you wish, but stay in your room at all times. It's far too dangerous to roam the halls now."

"I'll walk them to their room," Stark said coming out of the Great Hall. He wasn't in his dress robes, then again Luis never remembered him ever wearing them. It was always dark jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt or a sweater or his leather jacket. Tonight his shirt was dark green, fitting to his house colors. Though he looked anything but pleased with things.

"Thank you, Professor. I do appreciate it…I have other things I must deal with," she nodded and walked away

Oliver hung his head as he led the way to his room down the far left hall with Luis tugging and toting the six bags he brought with him with his wand while carrying Mr. Kinky. "So Ebony isn't coming this year and neither is Chelly?" Luis asked for confirmation.

Stark shook his head. "No, they won't be here…I was worried at first."

"So were we," Oliver nodded catching on that he was talking about Snape being Head Master now. How this year was already so different without the girls here. It seemed like a completely different place. Everyone was wary and scared and who wouldn't be with Death Eater's now roaming the halls and Voldermort in full control. He already noticed a few students missing, those that were Muggles.

"But it's better this way," said Stark. "Things aren't so good here…"

"What's going on?" Luis asked.

"Did you not notice the Death Eater's now here…and I'm an Auror."

"Meaning?" Luis asked.

He looked over his shoulder at him. "I might have to leave here after awhile…they won't take too kindly to me. You two better look out as well…you're friends of Harry, he's not here this year either along with Ron and Hermione…they'll come to you with questions expecting answers."

"Where are Ebony and Chelly anyway?"

He shook his head. "It's best you don't know that right now…things aren't bad yet…don't give them any reason to get worse."

He stopped in front of Oliver's chambers. "I'll be keeping an eye on you two for Ebony and Chelly's sake. I would stay in the room at all times if you can."

"Will do," Luis said not liking the thought of possible danger.

Stark took that as enough and said his good nights, walking down the hall and disappearing down another staircase.

Oliver pushed his door open and let Luis and his floating luggage in first before following him in and shutting the door behind him. The room was identical to most others except it was mahogany wood walls instead of the black stone walls that were in Chelly and Ebony's chamber. And it was smaller. There were only two rooms in this chamber. One to the left that was Oliver's and a door to the right that was his. He set Mr. Kinky down on the beige couch and he immediately hopped up on the arm of it, curling himself into a ball and licked his paws.

"Nice place…" Luis said blandly and directed his luggage into the room that was his. He'd definitely have to use some painting spells in that room. It was much too bland.

"Thanks…" Oliver sat on one end of the couch while Luis sat on the other.

"So…," Oliver nodded and tapped his fingers on his knee.

Luis nodded back, "Yeah…"

The silence was stifling and he found it awkward to even speak to Oliver without Ebony or Chelly there as a buffer. It was funny how no one noticed how much someone meant to them or how much they were needed until they weren't there. Neither noticed how much they were needed for conversation purposes.

Oliver cleared his throat and reached for the remote. "How 'bout some television?"

"Sounds great," Luis nodded as he flipped it on.

He skimmed through the channels and stopped on Quidditch. Luis sighed and by the third sigh he glanced over at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a bored look on his face. "What?"

"Is there anything else on?"

"You like Quidditch!"

"No, I like Viktor Krum. There's a difference," he explained.

"Fine," he changed the channel to _Baywatch_.

"You're kidding right?" Luis asked as he watched a girl run up the beach in slow motion.

"There's nothing wrong with Baywatch."

"Besides tacky swimwear and cheezy acting," he said.

"There's guys in it," he pointed out one.

"Uh huh, David Hasselhoff is not sexy."

"Fine," he growled and flipped through again, stopping on _Seinfield_.

"Hell, no change it," Luis shook his head.

"Why?"

"This is retarded. They drive me nuts."

"_You_ drive me nuts," he said agitated and flipped through it again to _Married with Children_.

"Gimme the remote."

"No."

"Then pick a better show."

"You're worse than Chelly."

"How she can stand your tacky taste in TV I'll never understand. Must be a Scottish thing."

Oliver flipped one more time and stopped on _Tales from Crypt Keeper_. "There. I love this show and I will blow up the remote before I let you change it."

"Now this we can agree on," nodded Luis as he settled back on the couch, munching on his popcorn. Two hours later the two were tired and the show was over. Oliver flipped the set off and stretched his back, cracking it as he went. He scratched the back of his head and stood up from the couch, "Well, I'm off to bed, night Luis."

"Uh huh," Luis said, eyes wide as he sat there clutching the pop corn bowl.

Oliver hadn't noticed and went into his room shutting the door behind him. He grabbed a pair of sweats and a t-shirt from his dresser and moved into the bathroom for a quick shower that took the same amount of time to take as it did for Chelly to prepare for one. He smiled at the thought of her, missing her again.

After changing and disposing his towels he flicked off the light and moved into his bed, settling in for the night. He froze though. His bed shifted and he hadn't moved. Something was in his room, more importantly in his bed. He moved his hand under his pillow and removed his wand. In one snap movement he had turned on the light and pointed his wand to the other side of the bed. Luis let out an "eep" and fell backwards off the edge.

"Jesus! Luis, what the bloody hell are you doin' in my room? In my bed?"

"I was scared!" he said and popped back up onto the bed.

"Scared? Of what?"

"Where should I start?" he said and listed things off on his fingers, "First we got Snape as Head Master. _Snape_! He scares the hell out of me. Then you got Death Eater's roaming around _freely _and we can't do a damn thing 'bout it without being _killed_. Voldermort has taken over the Ministry, we're sitting ducks just as the others are. God knows they might do something to us to see if we know where they are just like Stark said. And, last but not least, we just got done watching _Tales from the Crypt Keeper_ and that freaks me out."

"But you wanted to watch it!"

"It still freaks me out! I refuse to sleep alone."

"Well you're gonna."

"Oh, come on Oliver," he pouted. "Do it for Chelly."

Oliver let out an agitated sigh and ran a hand over his face and spoke with his Scottish accent. "You're lucky you're her best friend. Or I'd throw you out on your arse."

"Yay!"

"But you stay on that side," Oliver pointed to the opposite side he slept on. "And under your own blanket, not mine."

"Whatever you say. Besides, you're dating my best friend which makes you obsolete. You're pretty much a girl to me," he said and rolled over

Oliver frowned at that. "Gee…thanks." He reached over and switched off the lamp and buried himself deep in his covers, making sure they stayed tightly around him. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, thinking of Chelly the entire time.

Ebony and Chelly were visited by Lupin during their second week at her father's house, the same day Luis and Oliver had arrived at the school. He only stopped in for a bit. Apparently he had just visited Harry who he regretted hitting with his wand. Ebony reassured him that Harry had a way of deserving it after opening his mouth too much. He had wanted to help Harry with finding the Horcruxes but Harry refused to let him due to the child he had on the way.

"He has a point, Uncle Remus," said Ebony. They all sat in the living room with their drinks, the TV was on, but the sound was down low enough they could barely hear the _Simpsons_.

"I'm not getting into this argument with you as well," he said with a shake of his head.

"And I don't want to start one," she told him. "But you're going to be a father and I think we all just want you to be around to be one because, no matter what, you'll be a great dad."

"No, I won't."

"You'll be better than the ones I've had…though it wasn't much by choice with the situations that happened," Ebony added. Sirius had been wanted unjustly for the murder of Peter Petigrew and Lily and James Potter and Snape…well that story was widely known by now.

"It wasn't your father's fault," Lupin said. "Either of them…"

"I know that. And it's not your fault either but you'll make the best of it and do the best you can because I know deep down inside you want this more than anything."

"My kind shouldn't breed," he said with a shake of his head.

"Why not?"

"Because it could be disastrous. I could pass my lycanthropy to this little child. It's life will be ruined, this innocent child will be treated like a monster."

"No it won't," Chelly spoke up and Ebony looked at her with wide eyes. She bit her lower lip and set her cup on the table. "Just because a parent is a werewolf doesn't mean the kid will be a monster or even shape shift on a full moon."

"There's still a chance."

"And there's a greater chance that they'll just inherit some of the perks of being a werewolf but none of the curses like the shape shifting."

"You don't know that, Chelly. No one does."

"Yes, I do," she nodded and bit at her lip as she played with her fingernails nervously. "Because I don't shift on a full moon."

Lupin stared at her for a moment, fully taking it in. "You…you're the child of a werewolf…"

"Yes," she nodded. "It doesn't matter who, it just matters that I'm not ruined and I'm not a monster and neither will your child be."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked, sitting up straighter in more interest now.

"I just barely found out last year," she told him. "So you see your kid will be as normal as me."

"There's a scary thought," Ebony snorted and dodged the glare Chelly sent at her.

"You have no problems?" Lupin asked her.

She shook her head, "I get agitated a lot and I have a temper…but that could be I was always like that. My hearing is really good and so is my sense of smell. Are you saying you were never able to smell it on me?"

"I could smell it, I just thought I was getting old and my nose was going out or I was smelling the wolf on myself."

"Nope, Bill was smelling it on me too. So other wolves can smell it but no one else knows," she told him. "Your kid will be fine. And you need to be there for him. Like Eb said, someone needs to have a full time dad around for once. Might as well start with you."

"I suppose you're right…" he thought it over and buried his face in his hands. "My God, I should apologize to Harry for what I did."

Ebony patted her Godfather's shoulder. "I'm sure Harry understands. If I know Harry, which I do, he did it on purpose."

Lupin took a deep breath. "Things are just getting worse…I'm sure you saw the paper on the Muggle registration."

"That can't mean anything good," Chelly said.

"It doesn't. It means they're cleaning out the magic world of anything that they feel is tainting it."

"Which would be the Muggle borns."

"Exactly," he nodded.

"What do we do?"

"We can do nothing about the Muggle act. But we're trying to do what we can. I'm sure you're aware that Fred and George have the radio station."

"Sadly, yes," sighed Ebony. She had told him to be careful and stay out of trouble so what does he do? He starts a radio frequency that bashes Death Eaters and gives frequent updates.

"Well, we're trying to keep in contact with Stark, Luis and Oliver. They're taking care of Dumbledore's Army. They have the coins to call on the others when the time is right," Chelly took hers out to show him. "They start to flash when they're activated. So we're covered from the inside."

"Yes, but the school now has Death Eater's in it. And with Snape running it, it's easier access."

Ebony ignored the comment, she'd heard worse than that over the months. "You forget how I feel on the subject so I don't necessarily think it'll be easier."

"Yes, but you forget Death Eater's know that Oliver is Chelly's boyfriend and Luis is your friend and that Stark is a Slytherin but not a Death Eater and they may know he's an Auror and you two are both missing from the school and so is Harry and Hermione and Ron."

"You think my father will let them be hurt?" Ebony asked accusingly.

"I'm saying even if he does care to see no harm come to them, there's nothing he can do. It's Voldermort's school now."

"It'll all be okay…we have our job, Luis and Oliver have theirs, Stark has his which is watching them, and so do Harry and the others. We know what we're doing, and we may be young, but we have it under control, Lupe. We're smarter and stronger than you give us credit for."

"I do hope so," he said and stood up from his chair. "I better be going. It's getting late and Tonks will be worried."

"Give her my love," Ebony said and stood to hug her Godfather. "And be careful."

"I will," he hugged her tighter. "You do the same, Eb."

She nodded her head and gave him a smile she hoped was wholesome. "Promise."

He gave Chelly a quick hug and left the house, Disapparting outside the boundaries. Ebony's smile fell and she scanned the darkness with a sigh, folding her arms over her chest and kept the door propped open with her foot.

"They're out there aren't they," whispered Chelly from more inside.

She nodded slightly and mumbled. "Have been for a couple hours…before Lupin got here."

"What do they want?"

"Let's find out…," she cleared her throat and spoke louder. "You can show yourself. I'm guessing you might be tired from standing out there for so long."

The shadow she had noticed swirled into more focus and took the shape of a tall average built man she recognized as Selwyn, one of Voldermort's close Death Eater's. He slowly approached her, head tilted back to try and intimidate her.

"Are you the only one he sent?" she asked with a bored tone.

"Yes."

"What does the Dark Lord need me to do?" she asked.

"Nothing, you're doing fine on your own," he said with a shrug twirling his wand in his hand.

"Then why are you here, Selwyn?"

"Your father sent me."

Ebony tensed and Selwyn smiled, noticing it. She kept her face passive. "Why would he send you?"

"To check on his precious little girl, make sure you're all right. You and your little friend."

Chelly growled and took a step forward. "Who are you calling little?"

Ebony put her hand out, stopping her. "Now, now. You don't need to tear him a new one, Chell. I'm sure your father would love to tear anyone who insults you a new one."

It was Selwyn's turn to tense and she smiled at him. "You do know who her father is I take it? I can guarantee both of our father's would be upset to hear you insulting us in any way. I know Greyback wouldn't take too kindly to it at all."

"My apologizes," he said though the words sounded strangled out of him.

"Not a problem," she said with a nod though kept the cold smile. "You can tell my father I'm fine and I hope he is as well."

"Why aren't you at the school anyway?"

"Because if I went back there openly then Potter would know something was wrong and so would the Order. They have to believe that Chelly and I are on their side or they won't trust us and then how can we give the Dark Lord any information. My father has the school handled. No threat lies there to the Dark Lord."

"Where is Potter?"

"We don't know yet and I wouldn't rely that information to you anyway, Selwyn."

"Why not?" he growled.

Chelly answered him, "Because how do we know you won't take our info to the Dark Lord as your own. All our work would be for nothing and like hell we're letting that happen…besides it would suck if you had an accident like say your throat was accidentally ripped out for speaking our info."

Selwyn paled a bit and glared at her, touching his throat slightly. "Can you at least tell me why you had the werewolf here? The Dark Lord would want to know."

Ebony rolled her eyes. "Again, Selwyn, they have to trust me to give me information. If I don't play nice I don't know anything."

"And what did you find out?"

"So eager to lose your throat?" Chelly asked him with a raised eyebrow.

He took a step back. "Fine. I will let your father know his daughter and her friend are all right."

"And next time don't lurk in the darkness. I don't like being spied on. I might decide to set up traps to stop that," Ebony warned him. "Have a nice night, Selwyn." She shut the door and locked it, putting the security spells up around it.

She let out a heavy sigh and collapsed on the couch. "That was fun."

"I'll say," Chelly said and picked up a bag of Doritos from the table. "Least you know your dad cares."

"He didn't come himself though. Didn't send a letter."

"Probable can't, Eb," she munched on a chip. "They'd more than likely interfere with it."

She nodded in agreement. "I know, it'd just be nice to see him…"

"You will soon."

"You see that?"

"No, I know it."

"You see anything lately…"

"No…but I feel something's coming," Chelly said and shivered and looked out the window. "Won't be long now that we'll have to leave here."

"Why?"

"Something with Harry…he's moving, he's planning something…I'm just not sure what…but I feel it. We'll have to cover his tracks soon from the Death Eater's."

Ebony rubbed at her eyes. "Is it tonight?"

"No."

"Good," she put her feet up on the couch and flicked on the TV, settling on _Tales from the Crypt Keeper_. "I'm too tired to deal with any more."

Chelly reclined her chair and took a drink from her Cherry Pepsi. "Now you're talking."

Both girls continued to watch the show but neither paid much attention. Ebony's mind was stretched with her father while Chelly was trying to figure out what the feeling meant. She didn't want to find out…but since when did life give a damn about what she wanted.

**CH 9 – SIGNS**

Oliver sat on the couch once again, furthest from where Luis sat on the opposite end, his arms folded over his chest. They had been imprisoned in the room for the last five days. Or at least it seemed like it since they weren't allowed to go anywhere but to their designated classes and then straight back to their room. They even ate their meals in there, stuck with each other all day. Which wouldn't have been a problem if either could forget the memory of the night they shared Oliver's bed. It had all been fine until the next morning when they woke up in each other's arms…Luis had mistaken him for Krum and Oliver had mistaken him for Chelly. Nothing had happened but both seemed scarred and disturbed from it.

"I can't take this anymore," Luis growled and sunk deeper into the couch. Mr. Kinky opened a lazy eye and glanced at him before falling asleep once again on the coffee table.

"Not like we have a choice," snorted Oliver, just as bored as he stared at the TV.

"I wanna go out, do something."

"Can't. Death Eater's, remember? And Snape's Head Master so it's not goin' to happen, mate. Not with Stark watching us either," said Oliver.

Luis ran a hand over his face and stopped mid motion, staring at his watch on his wrist…maybe they could go out…maybe it would work. It seemed it only worked in certain situations and this was certainly a situation he wanted out of, if only for an hour. "What if we could leave without anyone knowing?"

"How?" Oliver asked with a frown. "We don't have a cloak."

Luis taped his watch. "I have an idea."

"Your watch is not special, Luis," he rolled his eyes.

"Try to trust me," he said and scooted closer to Oliver who tensed out of reaction. "I'm not going to rape you, I'm not that desperate. But you have to put your hand on my shoulder or something."

"Why?"

"Or else you'll stay behind."

Oliver rolled his eyes and put a hand on Luis's shoulder. "All right, but it's not going to work. It's just a watch."

"You'll see," Luis sang song and turned the face of his watch to the letters CM.

After a moment of nothing Oliver spoke. "Ooo…that's exciting."

"Wait for it," he muttered.

"Wait for what nothing…what the…" Oliver started and stopped as the room began to melt away. His grip on Luis's shoulder tightened to the point Luis would have had him let go if it didn't mean Oliver might get stuck in this place. The melting stopped and spun around so the colors shifted to various places and reformed back up around them. Next to him, Oliver was hyperventilating and Luis thought he'd faint before the room came into full view.

Luckily he didn't. They were standing in a living room with dark blue carpet and a couch to match that faced a TV on the wall. The kitchen could be seen from where they stood and he saw Chelly standing there wide eyed pouring soda into a cup that was now overflowing onto the table from her shock at seeing her boyfriend and best friend suddenly in the living room.

"How- how-how," Chelly repeated.

Almost the same reaction her boyfriend was having as he looked around, "What-what-what."

Luis pried Oliver's hand from his shoulder. "I told you it would work. But did you listen to me, nooo. So here we are."

"Oliver?" Chelly finally managed to say.

He blinked a few times before focusing on her. "Chelly."

She rushed to him then, nearly knocking him over and almost colliding with Luis in the process. The Ravenclaw managed to back out at the last minute before being stampeded on as the two lovers reunited in a crushing hug.

"Chelly? What's going on?" Ebony came into the room from up the stairs and raised her eyebrows at the sight of the two then glanced at Luis. "Hey Luis."

"Finally someone acknowledges me!" he said in a huff.

"Did you expect any less from them," she gestured at the kissing couple.

"At least a hi," he said.

"So, how'd you get here?" she asked standing next to him.

He tapped at the face of his watch.

"Oh, Luna's gift. Came in handy after all," she nodded.

"I'll say."

"How are things at Hogwart's?"

"Not good," he shook his head. "They have me and Oliver pretty much in lockdown. Stark is walking around on thin ice as it is, they don't even have him teaching. Death Eater's are teaching there now. Detention is worse than Umbridge. You pretty much get beat for even thinking against You Know Who. Oliver and me can't do anything. It's pretty much to class and then straight back. We're not even allowed to be in the Great Hall for dinner neither is Stark."

"Why not?"

Luis glanced at his shoes. "Head Master's orders."

"My father's…"

He nodded silently and kept his eyes on the ground.

"But why?"

"We don't know," Oliver said as he managed to part ways from Chelly for a moment long enough to join in conversation. "All we do know is he doesn't want us around, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing we're not sure."

"It can't be a bad thing. I don't think he'd hurt either of you. I think it's out of sight out of mind," Chelly said in his defense.

Oliver shrugged. "I don't know…where are we anyway?"

"My house," Ebony said and leaned against the couch. "In Spinner's End…or near it…and Godric's Hollow."

"Nice place," he nodded in approval.

"How long will you be here?" Luis asked.

Chelly shrugged. "Not much longer I feel…"

Luis glanced at his watch and was amazed that an hour had went by. "And on that note we should be gone too."

"You just got here," Chelly argued and grabbed Oliver's hand.

"Well…yeah but apparently time went faster to get here," said Luis and tugged on Oliver's sweater. "And I don't want to risk them finding out where we are or that I can transport and Stark will be pissed if he finds we aren't in our room."

Chelly kissed Oliver one last time and reluctantly let go of his hand. "I'll see you again…"

"When?"

"I don't know but I will," she promised him.

"If you see my father," Ebony said suddenly, "tell him…tell him…"

"You said hi?" Luis suggested.

"No…tell him he's still my harbor," she said after thinking of something meaningful, something that would have meaning to him as well.

"What's that mean?"

"Doesn't matter, just tell him."

"I will," Oliver nodded and put his hand back on Luis's shoulder. Luis turned his watch and the girl's watched as the two disappeared, fading from the room.

"That was interesting," said Chelly as she rubbed at her arms, missing him already.

"To say the least," she sighed and sat on the couch.

She felt her eyes cloud. At least she got to see Oliver, at least she knew for certain he was okay and that no harm had come to him from the Death Eater's surrounding him. It was worth the few minutes she got to have. With a sigh she rubbed at her eyes but noticed it was doing nothing to help her vision. Chelly blinked a few times, her vision hazy. The more she blinked the more it seemed her vision clouded and she realized then it was a vision coming on. It swirled into focus and she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione at the Ministry in disguise as other people, but they were had. They were Apparating out but someone grabbed Hermione at that moment, a Death Eater and he was transported with them to Grimmauld Place where they'd been hiding so they Disaaparted out again. Her vision ended and she shook her head to get rid of the rest of it as the living room came into focus. Ebony was staring at her, waiting.

"Looks like we'll be leaving here."

"Why?" Ebony asked standing from the couch.

"Harry and the others are about to be found out."

Her eyes widened and Chelly added on, "But not caught…least not entirely. This guy grabbed Hermione as they were transporting out of the Ministry under disguise and he ended up at Grimmauld Place with them. They can't stay there anymore."

"We have to go there then. Take it over before they do."

"But we can't say it's your father's house, Eb. They don't know Sirius is your dad."

"No, but they know I'm supposedly undercover in the Order and that's the Order's whereabouts. I'll just tell them we are taking it over for the time being, or we'll keep an eye on it if you prefer to stay here."

"With Selwyn watching us, not really," she snorted. "There it's at least a closed area, no way to get in really unless you know how to."

"Exactly and easy to Disapparate out of," she added and went upstairs to grab the bag she had pre packed. "Not like we won't ever be back here again. This is my home after all."

"What about Grimmauld?" Chelly asked ad picked up her own bag.

"When this is over Harry can have it," she said. "He was closer to Sirius than I was. I grew up here, this is my home."

Chelly nodded, "Shall we be off then?"

She set up high security measures on the house in case Selwyn decided to try and make himself cozy next time he stopped by. With a nod at her friend both girls Disapparated at the same time and found themselves just outside the Grimmauld Place door step. Ebony flashed her hand outside it and it recognized her, opening the door to let them in.

"Severus Snape," Moody's voice whispered in the darkness.

"I'm not him. I didn't kill you," she said to the security measure before the containing spells could hit them. The cloud that would have been Dumbledore burst before it even formed and she went upstairs to set her bag in her bedroom. Chelly took the room next door and both waited at the top if the staircase for the Death Eater's to come in.

"Mistress Snape," a creaky voice said and she leaned over the banister to see Kreacher wearing an apron and oven mitts, looking decent and less ragged for a change.

"Kreacher?" she frowned as he rounded the stairs to look up at her.

"Will you be staying for dinner?"

"Uh…yes…we'll be staying her for a while."

"Kreacher better make more soup then," he said.

"Soup?" Chelly repeated, remembering her hunger.

"Yes, Kreacher was making soup for Master Potter and his friends."

"How long ago did they leave?" Chelly asked the House Elf.

"No more than an hour," he said wiping his hands on the apron.

"Sounds about right," Chelly nodded.

"Kreacher, Harry won't be coming back. Some things went wrong with what he planned to do so I'll be here for now instead."

"Kreacher has new Mistress already," he said mildly shocked. "And it is second Master's daughter."

"Yes, but no one must know that I am Black's daughter or even part of this family. I am Severus Snape's daughter, understood?"

"Kreacher understands. Must be kept secret," he nodded without anger or sarcasm.

"Thank you," she told him. "You can go back to the kitchen. Food smells wonderful, Kreacher."

"Thank you, Mistress Snape," he bowed and limped back to the kitchen.

"So we get home cooked meals from a non crabby House Elf…I can like this," Chelly grinned.

She shook her head in disbelief, "I can't believe they trained him to be nice."

"I can't believe he cooks," Chelly added.

Ebony raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "What? I'm hungry…so sue me."

"I'd be a millionaire if I did that," she snorted.

Before Chelly could retort the front door opened and the security measure the Order put up kicked in. Instead of stopping it, Ebony waited and watched as the Tongue Tying jinx hit Yaxley and he couldn't talk as Moody's voice asked if it was Severus Snape. She saw Yaxley's eyes widen as the ghost Dumbledore came down the hall pointing accusingly. With a smile she raised her hand and ridded it for the Death Eater.

His eyes moved to her and Chelly as they slowly descended the staircase in front of him smugly. "Hello, Yaxley…glad you could finally drop in."

"Evovy," he said or tried to say her name.

"Sorry about the security parameters. I forgot to remove them when I got here. The Order does like to keep this place secret. I didn't think Harry'd be staying here, it being his dead Godfather's place and all. But when Chelly got the vision we came hurrying to see, but they were already gone. How'd you come about finding it?"

"Grabbed the girl," he said and flexed his jaw. "They transported to here. Must have hurried off again."

"Three teenagers got the best of you?" Chelly snorted and folded her arms over her chest. "Now that's funny."

"I don't see you helping the Dark Lord," he said between clenched teeth.

"That's because we're on the inside, how many times do I have to keep saying this," said Ebony. "We can't be found out but we're trailing Harry and his little friends."

"Then where did they go," he asked.

"We don't know yet but when we do the Dark Lord will be the first to know," she said and smiled at the shocked look on his face. "Did you _really_ think I'd tell you? Please, Yaxley I wouldn't trust such valuable information to one of the lower rings of Death Eater's. I am my father's daughter of course…you know him, he's the Head Master at Hogwart's. He killed Dumbledore."

Yaxley glared at her. "It was a cheap shot."

"Yes, but you didn't do it now did you…you didn't get a man to trust you for years and then stab him in the back, did you? You're not good enough for it. But we Snape's apparently are…"

He took a step towards the staircase and Chelly growled, "And Greyback's have no problem with shedding blood."

Yaxley paused in mid step. "I should be going then…the Dark Lord will want to know about this. He may contact you later tonight by fire."

"We'll be waiting," Ebony said and waved as Yaxley disappeared out the door. Her smile fell around the edges and she took a deep breath.

"That was fun," Chelly mumbled and slowly went down the staircase.

"Not my definition of the word."

Chelly paused at the bottom of the steps, staring at the sealed door and then glancing in the family tree room. "Does it scare you?"

"What?"

"That it's so easy…to you know, be bad. To play evil…to the point it feels like you're not playing anymore, that it's from a part of you inside that's real."

Ebony looked in the room, at all the Death Eater's names on the wall from her bloodline. She rubbed at her mother's bracelet, at the light mark beneath it. "Yes…you?"

"All the time," she nodded.

A voice down the hall called to them. "Kreacher has finished dinner, Mistress Snape and friend Murillo."

Chelly patted Ebony's shoulder. "Let's go eat…I still have an appetite."

"Surprise, surprise," she mumbled and stayed there a moment longer, looking at the names on the wall and the absence of hers. She didn't belong on that wall, not because she wasn't evil, it ran in her veins after all. She had the proof of that…but because she wasn't a Black at heart. She was a Snape…and that in itself carried evil, but it carried something stronger than the darkness. It carried love and as corny as it sounded to her, love was able to conquer everything. Including a Dark Lord.


	8. Chapter 8

**CH. 10 – Interrogation **

"That was loads of fun," Oliver sighed and took a drink from his bottle of water he had grabbed from his mini fridge. "At least I got to see Chelly again, see that she's all right."

Oliver and Luis settled back onto the couch after their journey back. Luis crossed his legs and folded his arms staring pointedly at Oliver, lips pursued as he bounced his foot up and down.

After a few minutes, Oliver acknowledged having hoped he'd stop but seeing as how he wasn't anytime soon, the matter had to be addressed. "What, Luis?"

"I'm waiting," he said, foot bouncing.

"Waiting for what? Me to smack you, because if ya keep bouncing your foot like that I'm gonna have to."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm waiting for you to apologize, you Scottish smart ass."

"For what?" he exclaimed.

"For telling me the watch wouldn't work."

"Oh, come on, Luis."

"Nope," he shook his head. "I wanna hear it."

"It worked, you proved your point."

"You gotta say it."

"Say what?!"

"You were wrong."

"You are such a girl," he rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

"I'm gonna start bitching in five seconds if you don't and I won't stop."

"Give me a break."

"One," he started counting, examining his nails.

"I'm not apologizing for something stupid."

"Two."

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"Three."

"There's nothing to be sorry for."

"Four," he cleared his throat.

"Fine!" Oliver set his water bottle on the table. "You were right."

"About?" Luis asked with a smile.

Oliver gritted his teeth. "About your watch. You were right about your watch. It can do what you say it does."

"And you were…" he gestured for him to keep going.

"Going to kick your arse…"

"No, no. If I was right you were…"

"Wrong," he said as though it pained him. "I was wrong…I'm sorry."

Luis grinned and bounced in his seat. "Say it again, a little louder, I didn't quite hear you."

"I'm sorry," he rolled his eyes. "You were right."

Luis patted his knee. "That's what I like to hear."

Oliver glanced at the hand on his knee then back at Luis then back at his knee. Luis took the hint and removed his hand moving back to his end of the couch. "At least you got to see Chelly. I haven't gotten to see my Krum."

"He's not your Krum," Oliver reminded him.

"He will be. You'll see."

Oliver shook his head and reached for the remote control but before he could switch on the television the door opened and Alecto and Amycus stepped into the room. The siblings wearing matching smiles on their pudgy faces. "We need to speak to you both," Alecto said with a giggle.

"Why?" Oliver asked with a frown as put a hand on his shoulder, moving him up with one hand.

"Just a few questions we need to ask you," Alecto said and grabbed Luis's arm, pulling him up from the couch and dragging him with her, her long nails leaving light marks.

"About what?" Oliver asked as he and Luis were removed from their room and escorted down the hall to Amycus's classroom, the Dark Arts room. It was a scam to call it Defense Against anymore. All the students were now taught how to use the spells and nothing more on how to stop them.

"Just a few things," Alecto said as they rounded the corner Stark caught up with them, a little out of breath that told Luis he had known these two were coming for them. This was bad. "Professor's, what are you doing with those TA's?"

"We just need to ask them a few questions of no importance," Amycus said.

Stark nodded and fixed his jacket. "I see, then you can ask then out here."

"I prefer the Dark Art's office, Mr. Stark."

"Then I'll join you," he said and Amycus held his hand out.

"No need for you to be there."

"But you said it wasn't important so why shouldn't I be?" he asked coldly.

"Don't go walking where you don't belong, Mr. Stark. It might prove ill for your well being," he warned him.

"I was in Slytherin, never one to really follow the rules."

"You disgrace Slytherin," Alecto spat.

"And you disgrace Hogwart's but I'm not complaining. I suggest you leave these students alone. They aren't part of this, they know nothing."

"That is for us to decide, now if you'll excuse us," Amycus said and Luis saw Alecto reach into her robes.

"I'm not going to let you-." Stark started to say angrily.

"_Blastis_!" Alecto shouted and the spell hit Stark sending him into the wall where he hit it with enough force to crumble to the ground in pain, barely able to get his arms under his body, he kept falling back down. "I told you to stay out of it and what we do with these students is nothing compared to what you will receive later."

Luis and Oliver were stunned into silence as the Deathy Eater's grabbed their arms moving them down the corridor.

"Stark," Luis called out but Alecto gripped him tighter whispering to him.

"I'd come with us and make this easy on you by doing what we say."

He said nothing else as they were prodded up the stairs to Amycus's office that had once served as Umbridge's bright pink one but was no longer decorated so nauseatingly. Quite the opposite with the dark walls and sullen draperies. Alecto let go of Luis's arm with a shove and he caught himself on the desk, straightening up and standing close to Oliver. His heart was beating so loud he was sure the brother and sister could hear it.

"What's this about?" Oliver asked calmly and Luis was glad one of them could hold their composure enough to speak because it sure as hell wasn't him after they hurt Stark.

"We just need to ask you a few questions is all, seeing as how you two were pals with Potter and his dim wit friends and all three are missing," Alecto said and crossed her arms over her chest.

"We figured you two would know where they might be," Amycus added on.

"Can't say I do," Oliver shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the desk.

Amycus tutted, "I highly doubt that. We can do this the easy way," he reached into his dress robes and pulled out his wand with a smile. "Or we can do this the hard way. Where are they, Wood?"

"We don't know where they are though," Luis said and found his face turned sideways and his cheek burning as Alecto's hand surged across his face with such speed he didn't even see her move. Quite a shock for someone her size and her size meant the hit hurt a lot more.

"Did we ask you?" she hissed at Luis who's eyes stung not from tears but from the mere pain of the smack and the closeness her nail had come to his left eye. He could feel the stickiness on his palm and didn't have to look at his hand to see her lethal nails had left marks on his face not to mention the bruise he'd have tomorrow.

Oliver held his composure though the slap had taken him by surprise as well. "I don't know where Harry is. The only person I've seen is Ebony and Chelly and that was a while ago."

"What is Potter planning then?"

"I don't know," he shrugged.

"Hmm…seems like you don't know a lot…looks like you need your memory refreshened. _Crucio_!"

Oliver gasped and doubled over from the pain searing through him. It felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside. The fire seemed to burn through his blood and he fell to his knees, one hand on the ground to keep him from falling over and the other to keep what felt like his insides from ripping out. It stopped and he was able to take a gasping breath. A hand grabbed his chin and turned his face up. Amycus smiled. "Where is Potter?"

He opened his mouth to talk but forgot how for a brief moment, "I-I don't know." His face jerked to the side and he threw his arm out to keep from falling over as he was back handed.

"Where is he?" Amycus yelled.

"We don't know!" Luis yelled back and yelped when Alecto grabbed his arm jerking him to her, her nails digging through his skin, piercing his flesh causing him to wince.

"Tell me or I'll do away with you both!"

"We don't…know," Oliver panted from the ground.

Amycus pointed his wand at him, face going beet red in his anger, ready to use the curse on him again and Oliver kept his calm. If he was going to die he'd do it with his dignity intact. A hand wrapped around Amycus's wrist, pale fingers removing the wand from his pudgy hand and Oliver focused his eyes on the third adult in the room.

"And just what do you think you are doing, Amycus?" Snape asked coolly, twirling the wand in his long fingers.

"I was just asking these boys a few questions, Head Master," he said.

Snape's eyes moved to Oliver on the floor, pale and sweating from the pain, barely able to hold himself upright and Luis standing with Alecto, left cheek bleeding and dripping from scratch marks. His gaze moved to Alecto's arm, her nails digging into his flesh and he raised an eyebrow at her. She quickly removed her hand and Luis clutched at the bleeding skin, leaning back against the desk. "I see…and were they helpful."

"We were about to get it out of them," Amycus said.

"There are other methods," Snape replied. "I could have easily given you a truth serum…and I highly doubt either of them could take this much and not tell you what they know…Laguna's not one to handle much pain. I doubt they know where Potter is since I'm willing to believe that's what this interrogation is about."

"Yes, sir," Alecto nodded and moved to stand near her brother. "But they did mention seeing Murillo and Ebony awhile ago."

Luis was sure he saw Snape tense for a brief moment. Either that or his eye was still watering too much to see clearly.

"We'll take them back to their room," Amycus said and Snape stopped him with a hand.

"I can manage it, you both have done enough and I don't want either of them to encounter any more accidents along the way…and do be careful going down the hall. Someone seems to have jinxed it with a blast spell, least it seemed that way for Professor Stark."

The siblings looked reluctant but obeyed orders and left the room. Once gone Snape knelt down next to Oliver, putting a hand under his arm. "On your feet, Wood." Shakily he managed but swayed until Luis grabbed his arm and had him lean against him.

"Can you manage him, Lagunas?"

Luis nodded his head, his voice dry, "Yea, I got him." He slung Oliver's arm around his shoulders and helped him down the stairs, glad neither of them tumbled down them. Snape wasn't far behind and walked with them in silence out the classroom and down the hall. He opened the door to their room when they finally got to it and Luis let out a sigh of relief when he got Oliver to the couch and collapsed on it himself. He didn't notice Snape was still in the room until he spoke.

"When did you see my daughter and Ms. Murillo?"

"Earlier," Oliver replied, leaning his head wearily on his hand, still pale.

"Earlier this week?"

"No…today," he said. "At your house."

Snape's eyes widened. "How did you manage that?" Neither said a word and he nodded. "It's best I don't know the answer to that…" his eyes shifted around the room and he looked pained. "How is she?"

It didn't take rocket science to know who "she" was. Luis answered, "She's fine…she's worried about you."

"She misses you," Oliver added. "But you know Ebony, she won't say it right out. Not her."

"She's okay," he repeated to himself. "And Murillo is with her as I expected she would be. How is she?"

"Doing better than me at the moment," Oliver shifted and winced, leaning his head back against the couch.

"And they're still there?"

"Might have left by now," Luis shrugged. "We don't know. Didn't seem like they'd be there long. But we don't know where they were going or what they're doing and we don't know where Harry is."

"I believe you. No matter though," he waved it away with his hand. "You two rest for now."

"How is Professor Stark?" Luis asked.

"Sore and in some pain but he'll be fine. He was well enough to warn me about the two of you. You should stay out of these things, it's not my job to protect you," he turned o leave.

Through the haze of pain and sleep Oliver remembered the message Ebony had. "Wait…Ebony had a message for you…"

Snape froze and looked over his shoulder at them, waiting but Oliver was already dozing off. Luis bit his lower lip, trying to remember. "It didn't make sense to me…but it was something like…she wanted us to tell you that you're still her harbor."

It must have made sense to Snape because his face softened, as if those words had melted away any doubt or worry he had been carrying over the last few months. He nodded his head, "She's still mine as well…if you ever see her again let her know that…" He left the room closing the door behind him and Mr. Kinky curled at Luis's side.

He went to pet the cat but stopped when he saw the blood still on his hand. He shooed the cat off the couch and stood up glancing at Oliver who had passed out. He bent down and helped move him across the couch, moving his legs up onto it and covering him with a nearby blanket. He made sure to lock the door before going into his room to clean his own wounds. He avoided looking in the mirror for as long as he could, bandaging his arm first. The cuts weren't deep but cleaning them hurt like a bitch as he wrapped the bandage around his forearm. He stood in front of the mirror, eyes closed, unsure if he 

could face the damage. Finally he opened his eyes and gasped a hand going to his mouth. There were four long scratches across his face going diagonal and blood smeared the entire area like a bad horror movie. The smallest went from his temple to the corner of his eye and had hit his eye. His left eye was bloodshot red from where her nail had scratched him. He could see the cut on his eyeball. The other three marks went from his upper cheek down. One ending at his nose, another just by his lip and the last at his chin. A dark bruise was beginning to form beneath that. He turned his head and looked at the untouched side of his face, the normal side and then looked straight on. It looked monstrous to him. He wiped at his good eye, the tears now from his marks and the severity of them. His good eye caught sight of the Dumbledore's Army coin around his neck. If he hadn't joined he wouldn't be in this mess. His face would be fine, his life not in danger…but it didn't change anything. Chelly and Ebony would still be off, Dumbledore would still be dead and the school would still be taken over with Death Eater's. At least this way he stood a chance of surviving. The old Luis wouldn't have been able to handle a battle at the Ministry or being in a school of Voldermort's followers or receiving the torture he just had.

He started cleaning the wounds, done sulking. He'd just have to make a healing potion later to minimize the scarring and help speed up the process. He had gotten off light compared to Oliver and the Cruciatus curse…he'd have to make his friend a Pain Killing potion after he was done cleaning his face to ease him maybe one for Stark too. He had a feeling these wounds were just the beginning of what promised to be more later on. No one ever said any of this was going to be easy. But he knew one thing. He was going to get Alecto back later for hitting him. Whenever the opportunity came, he'd be ready and the bitch would pay.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: This chapter is longer than the last and getting closer to May 2nd (when the big battle happens at Hogwart's). I own the same four as usual. _

* * *

**CH. 11**

Three months had passed by without anything happening. Least nothing that Chelly and Ebony could help in on. They sat in the house day after day with no indications or sign of something happening. She received random reports from Death Eaters and kept reporting back that she had no news on Harry which in itself was not a complete lie. They did, however, hear about the attacking investigation on Luis and Oliver from Luis himself. Ebony had to physically hold Chelly back from storming Hogwart's and remind her they had a job to do and Oliver was fine and so was Luis. He had managed to visit once in November.

They had been sitting in the living room and he was just suddenly there. Chelly had turned around to go get a soda and had nearly jumped out of her skin, putting a hand to her chest as he stood n the darker part of the room with his hoodie drawn up over his head. "Jesus, Luis!" she exclaimed and paused to catch her breath. "Don't sneak up on us like that."

Ebony had jumped to her feet when Chelly gasped, jewels glowing in her ring but taming down when she saw it was only Luis.

"Sorry," he said but still didn't step out of the shadows. "It just takes me straight to wherever you are if there's no danger present and apparently there isn't."

"Where's Oliver?" Chelly asked.

"He couldn't go. We couldn't risk it. I need a way to get back and my watch has his initials on it so I can get back to the room. That way they don't get suspicious. We've been through enough from them."

Something in his voice made Ebony frown and step forward. "What happened, Luis?"

She saw him bring his hand up and rub the side of his face. "They're punishing kids. The Death Eaters. Mainly Alecto and Amycus."

"The brother and sister?" Chelly asked.

"Those be the ones," he nodded. "They're punishing kids in detention. Few black eyes here, bloody lip there. But that's it, it hasn't gotten any more serious than that."

"And Snape lets them?" Chelly asked.

"There's nothing he can do," Luis shook his head.

"If he interferes they'll think he's up to something," Ebony reminded her.

Luis kept his hand on his face. "And he already did once."

"With who?"

"Me and Oliver," he answered quietly.

"They hurt you guys?" Chelly asked with anger.

He nodded. "Yeah…they came in the room not an hour after we got back from seeing you last and dragged us into their office. Stark tried to stop them but they hit him with a spell. They wanted us to tell them where Harry was but we didn't know anyway. I tried telling them…Alecto scratched me across the face for speaking out while Amycus put Oliver under the Cruciatus Curse."

"Oh my God," Chelly gaped but Ebony was more worried about what Alecto did to Luis. She knew Alecto took pride in her long nails, always had.

"Your dad came in and stopped them from doing anything more, Stark had reached him before it was too late. Oliver was out of it for a day and was in pain for a few more after that. He's better now."

"What about you?" Ebony asked.

"I'm fine. They didn't hurt me as bad as Oliver."

"Pull your hood down, Luis," Ebony demanded.

"Why?"

"You know why, let me see your face," she said and even Chelly was frowning.

She heard Luis take a deep breath and pull his hoodie off his face. Chelly gasped and Ebony winced visibly at the sight. Luis's face was scarred where she had scratched him. The marks were pale on his darker skin, but that wasn't the worst of it. His left eye was the worst. His usual dark colored eye was whited out, blinded except for the small scar on the white part of his eye.

"Oh my God, Luis…how?" Chelly asked in a whisper, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Ebony answered for him, seeing how emotional he looked over it. "Alecto always fancied her nails and how sharp they were. She's good at Potions and dark spells. She used to make her own nail polish with it and coat her nails in it. You wouldn't know your cuts were cursed from her marks until it was too late for you do anything. She made it so healing spells couldn't stop scarring and she always went for the face…even the eyes."

Chelly's eyes widened, "Your blind in your eye?"

"Almost…I caught it before it took my vision completely…but I was too late for the scars."

"We'll fix it, Luis…I'm sure my father can," Ebony promised. "Any news on Harry?"

"No," he shook his head as she had changed topics to take his mind off his scars. "Everything is going fine besides the punishments, but that's a small price considering they could be doing worse." He looked at his watch. "I should be getting back."

"Tell Oliver I love him," Chelly told him and stepped back.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "If I have too…any message for your Dad, Eb."

"No," she shook her head.

"Oh," he looked up before turning his watch face. "He told me that same day after I told him your message to tell you, you're still his harbor too…whatever the hell that bloody means. Take care."

"You too."

He was gone in an instant. They were alone again. And had been since that day in November.

That was it from Hogwart's. Nothing new had come through. They had heard Ron had left Harry and Hermione. She had gotten a message coded from George on that. So it was down to Hermione and Harry and neither knew where they were.

Ebony glanced out the window at the snow coming down. It was winter already. Usually she'd be sitting in her chair by the fire while her dad read in his chair across from her and Chelly watched Disney movies on the couch. This year her and Chelly were still sitting by the fire watching Disney movies, but her father wasn't here. Instead Kreacher was cooking in the kitchen, preparing dinner as usual though it was a late dinner. They tended to eat late and stay up til morning in case there was any word on Harry.

Chelly was sitting by the fire twirling the vial in her hand that Dumbledore had left to her. She shook it a little and frowned. "When is this damn thing supposed to start glowing?"

"No idea," Ebony sighed and sat back down.

"I mean, it's useable if it glows and it's supposed to stay all glowy but it's not and it's been four months."

Ebony shrugged. "It's a mystery."

"They're weird gifts," she tucked it back into her pocket. "Speaking of which," she leaned over her chair and dug in her purse handing Ebony a wrapped package. "Merry Christmas."

She shook her head. Christmas already. It was a good thing she had gone shopping at the Muggle stores around here. She handed Chelly her gift. "To you too."

Chelly wasted no time opening it and grinned holding up the purse. "A Pikachu purse! I love it! How'd you know I wanted it?"

"Because you mentioned it four or five times," she rolled her eyes.

"I did didn't I," she giggled.

Ebony opened hers and took out the new sweater jacket, in black as usual. "You looked like you needed a new one. The hoodie Sirius got you is getting worn."

"It's perfect," she smiled but couldn't help the sadness that stayed in it.

"It sucks…I know…I miss seeing Oliver…seeing my mum."

"Yeah…it does suck," she agreed. "We'll see them all again soon."

"Yup," Chelly nodded and the silence fell over them again. Chelly touched the necklace around her neck. "I had a vision yesterday. I didn't remember it until I poured my vial into my Pensive. It was of Harry…he was in Godric's Hallow."

Ebony snapped her head to her. "That's where Harry's parent's are buried."

Chelly nodded. "He was attacked by Nigini, but he and Hermione are all right. They got away."

"Any idea as to where they are?"

Chelly shook her head. "It was all I saw."

Ebony sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. They were getting nowhere with any of this. She picked up the broken compass next to her, trailing her fingers over the covering again. She'd been trying to figure it out for the last couple months with nothing else to do. But they'd gotten nowhere. She opened it again, staring at its broken surface. Nothing happened. She shook her head and thought of Harry, wondering where he was, if he was okay. It had been a long time since she had seen him, even heard from him. The cloud colored face of the compass started to swirl and she blinked a few times wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. But no, it was swirling. The center of the compass cleared and she could see Harry.

With wide eyes in wonder she watched as he followed a silver doe patronus in awe and she felt what he did, the safety it brought with it. The doe stopped at a frozen pool of water about six feet deep and disappeared. The Sword of Gryffindor was in there. Lying at the bottom. She could only watch in fear as she saw what Harry was going to do as he stripped off his clothes to his boxers and broke the ice on the pond.

"Harry! No!" she shouted as she watched. That caught Chelly's attention and she jerked her head from the movie on the screen to Ebony staring at the compass and was quick to move behind her to watch. The same look of wonder crossed her face as she could see Harry and it soon turned to horror. "Is he nuts! It's snowing!"

They watched helplessly as Harry jumped into the frozen water. And they both saw his mistake. He left the locket, the Horcrux, around his neck and it acted as it should have, choking Harry as he lay at the bottom of the pool trying to get the sword.

"Harry!" Ebony yelled. She was watching him die. She was going to watch him drown and she couldn't help him. Couldn't begin to. She didn't know where he was and even if she did it would be too late by the time she got there. He'd be dead.

But another disturbance came in the water and Harry was pulled out onto the snow bank next to the other coughing retching person. It was Ron. Both girls let out the breath they'd been holding. They watched the two talk and Harry handed Ron the sword so he could destroy the locket. Of course, the locket put up a fight but lost in the end. Harry and Ron destroyed another piece of Voldermort. The compass turned white again. The scene was over.

"Was that a memory?" Chelly asked.

"No," Ebony shook her head. "This just happened."

"I wonder why I didn't get a vision on it," Chelly said with a frown and sat back on the couch.

"No idea, but I think it had to do with the silver doe."

"What silver doe?"

"It was a Patronus," she said. "And Harry and I felt the same around it. Comfortable, safe. It led Harry to the sword."

"Wonder who it was?" Chelly asked but her owl had come circling into the room with a letter and she stood to grab it while Ebony thought it over. It could have been Harry's mother, after all Harry's was a stag and his father was able to morph into a deer. It made sense.

She looked up to Chelly to get her opinion but noticed the tension in her friend's body as she gripped the letter with wide scared eyes. Ebony stood, alarmed. "What? What is it?"

"Luna…it's Luna."

"What? Has something happened?"

Chelly dropped the letter in shock. "They took her. The Death Eater's took her. They kidnapped her from Hogwart's. Oliver, Stark, and Luis tried to stop them, but they were overthrown. They took her!"

Ebony didn't know what to say to that.

"Those bastards!" She yelled and started storming out of the room. Ebony grabbed her and pulled her back in.

"Don't do anything stupid."

"I'm just going to go get her back!"

"That would be doing something stupid, Chell."

"But they have Luna. They have my cousin."

"And they have my father!" she said and Chelly blinked, Ebony felt her strain less under her hand. "They have him too and remember what you told me. We can't give up our cover. We have to keep helping Harry. It's the only way to end this and don't think for a second that when Harry finds out he'll do nothing to stop this."

Chelly nodded her head, defeated. "I want to find out why…I want to see her…can we…"

Ebony took a deep breath. That meant going to Malfoy Manor, straight into Voldermort's lair. "Yes…but you have to put on an act, Chell. You can't falter in front of the Dark Lord."

"I won't," she promised.

"Okay," she nodded and went upstairs, taking Chelly with her. They stopped in her room and she reached by the side of her bed and pulled up her pack. Ebony reached into her pack and pulled out the black box with the silver bow still wrapped around it. She hadn't opened it in nearly two years after the first initial time. Chelly had told her to throw it out but for some reason she felt bound to keep it locked away in her drawer. When she had packed to leave Hogwarts for the last time she took it with her, shoving it with a bunch of other things into her pack and now she faced that box. With a deep breath she pulled the bow off and opened the lid. The skull stared up at her, the snake twisting out of his mouth in intricate design and detail that even she had to admit it was beautiful yet purely evil.

"Why did you bring that damn thing?" Chelly asked, recognizing the box.

"Because this damn thing can save our asses," she removed the necklace from its bedding; the silver was cool in her hand, as cold as the symbol represented. "It's a good thing I kept it after all." She unclasped it and stared at it for a moment before fastening it to her neck. The Death Eater mark settled against her chest, striking contrast against the black of her shirt. She tucked her Slytherin pendant under it so it wouldn't become tangled with the Death Eater. "Same reason I brought your damn thing." She took out the other box for Chelly who scrunched her face in disgust as she took it.

"Do I have to?"

"If you want to get into Malfoy Manor I suggest it."

With a heavy sigh she put the necklace on and tucked her owl one beneath her shirt.

"Are you ready?" Ebony asked and stepped up to the fireplace in her room, throwing the Floo Powder in.

Chelly nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be?"

Ebony turned to the fire with the code to get in. "Cruciatum Darkio, Malfoy Manor."

The flames went from the usual green to a fiery black, a skull moving through it. Both girls with more courage than they imagined they had stepped through the flames and were taken in a burning cold to Voldermort's hide out to face the Dark Lord himself.

**CH 12 - Hideout**

They stepped out of the cold fire and into the elaborate house that belonged to the Malfoy's but now served as the Dark Lord's hide out. They didn't get more than three steps before a wand was pointed in Ebony's face.

"Intruders," the voice seethed, wand bouncing between the two girls.

Ebony gave the dark haired wild eyed woman a lazy cold smile. "Good to see you too, Bellatrix."

"You dare enter the Dark Lord's territory," she hissed, jabbing her with her wand.

"I believe I have every right to considering I am one of his followers."

"You don't have a Dark Mark."

She touched the necklace around her neck and saw the envy in Bellatrix's eyes. The necklaces were reserved for what was the highest level possible. Few had one, most were given as gifts as theirs had been. Ironically, Ebony's came from Lucius. "I don't need one."

"What business do you have here?" she asked.

"We need to see the Dark Lord. We have information for him."

"Give it to me and I will tell him."

Chelly snorted. "Like we'd let you take our glory no matter how badly you need it."

Ebony added to that, "I've heard you and your family aren't doing as well as expected. What a pity."

Her lip twitched and Ebony was sure she would have used a spell if Wormtail hadn't come in just then. "Ebony, Chelly," he greeted them and gestured with his new metal hand to the double doors he'd come out of. "The Dark Lord would like to see you both…"

Ebony and Chelly smirked at Bellatrix and walked across the tiled floor and through the double doors. A large chair was facing the fire place, turned enough that all they could see was a thin arm draped in dark robes with sharp nails on the arm of the chair. Nagini was draped around the top, her head resting down somewhere along the other side.

"Come in, closer," Voldermort spoke from the chair.

With a deep breath Chelly and Ebony exchanged glances and did as they were told. Slowly, the two moved towards the fireplace and paused just before coming around the chair.

"Closer, my dears," he said.

Ebony licked her dry lips and she and Chelly came around the other side so they were standing a few feet in front of the Dark Lord. His eyes glittered in the glow from the fire, his other hand stroked Nagini's head and his thin nonexistent lips peeled into a smile. "Ebony, Chelly…hopefully good news brings you to me…at least better than what I've received so far."

"I'm sure you've found out that Potter has destroyed another Horcrux."

"That's what I was speaking of," he nodded. "It'd be wise to bring me better news than the obvious."

"The Weasley boy is back with him. Saved him from the necklace nearly killing him or the water from drowning him," Ebony retold the information. She knew it would do him no good. But all that mattered was the way she delivered it.

"I thought he was bed ridden?"

She smiled. "No, he had been with Potter from the beginning. I thought Yaxley had told you after he nearly caught the three of them back in September."

She saw Voldermort's eyes twitch slightly and his hand tense on the arm of the chair. "No…he failed to mention any of that to me."

"Yes, my Lord," Chelly added in. "We found out Harry and his friends were hiding at Grimmauld place, but a moment too late. I'm sorry my visions aren't more reliable or quicker to show. But we got 

there before Yaxley. He had almost caught the three at the Ministry of Magic but they out smarted him. Now we stay at Grimmauld hoping they might go back to it."

"I'll have to discuss this misinformation with Yaxley later," Voldermort said calmly though the anger was present in the air and both were glad they weren't Yaxley. "Anything else you have?"

"Just that you may want to protect the other Horcruxes tighter. Harry seems to be smarter than we imagined," Chelly said. "I also saw his wand was broken while he was in Godric's Hollow."

"Really?" he asked amused.

"Yes, my Lord," she nodded.

"That is good news," he slithered.

Chelly bit her lower lip. "May I ask a question?"

"Depends on the question."

"It involves Luna Lovegood…my cousin."

"Ahh, yes. You must have heard of her kidnapping. So sorry it had to come to these terms but you understand I had no other choice but to take her to get her no good father to do as I say. He was writing bolder than he should be. I had to make an example for him to change his mind."

"Is…is she okay?"

"She's not been harmed yet."

Ebony saw Chelly flinch on the yet.

"As long as her father does as I say, Chelly, your cousin will be fine. Examples must be made. Ebony knows, she was made one at the Ministry because of her mother's mistake in the past and her inheritance of her mother's boldness."

Ebony touched her mother's bracelet, tracing the stone. "Understandable and forgiven as always, my Lord. If there is anything more you need let us know"

He smiled, "Just keep a listen…you two may go," he waved his hand and they left the room doing their best not to run from it. No sooner were they out the double doors was Draco confronting them.

"I should have known you'd be kissing up to him," he spat. He looked paler than usual, dark circles decorated the bottoms of his eyes.

Ebony smiled. "Is that envy I hear, Chell?"

"I believe so," she nodded in agreement. "I'd say he was jealous of us. Getting our names in good places while his is trashed amongst most."

"I am not trash!"

"You could have fooled me, Malfoy."

"I don't gallivant with mud bloods!"

Ebony shook her head. "Maybe you should have. You might be in a better position then."

He shook with his anger, hands clenched. "You were friends with Potter, who are you to call me trash."

She smiled coldly. "You just don't get it. You keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Malfoy. If you always look like an enemy, no one will trust you. But if you're a friend they never see the knife coming at their back."

"You play them Draco," Chelly said as the two started back to the fireplace. "You play them to the point they don't even realize it's all a game until they've lost everything."

Ebony waved at him. "You should have tried it. Maybe you'd actually have succeeded at something instead of making my father clean up your mess."

Before Draco could reply they were gone from the manor and back in Grimmauld place. Chelly sat in her chair immediately. "She's not hurt."

"No, she's not," Ebony sighed, dropping her evil act.

"She's okay and it's all because of that stupid paper my uncle writes," Chelly pulled the necklace of her neck and tossed it onto the table, rubbing her skin as if it burnt.

"He wrote the truth, he went against the Dark Lord. Pretty brave of him."

"Pretty stupid, you mean," Chelly snorted and cracked her knuckles. "Now they have Luna."

"She'll be fine, Chell," she reminded her and sat down in her chair.

"I hope you're right," a voice said from behind them and both turned to see Luis, George, Stark, and Oliver step out if the shadows. Luis looked saddened, "Because I won't forgive myself if she's not."

"Oliver!" Chelly brightened up and jumped into his arms, kissing him.

Ebony stared at George for a moment, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her. She touched her engagement ring on her finger and bit her lower lip. She needed to be professional with everything after all…but she hadn't seen her fiancé in four months. She went with her latter feelings and nearly tackled George sideways as she moved into his arms with a laugh and kissed him. "I missed you! You big jerk!"

"Gee, love you too, Eb," he snorted with a roll of his eyes but still held her close.

"I thought you'd be with your family?"

"I was," he nodded, "But I left to come see you after we were done there. Mum's a bit upset still with no Ron around. But she understands he's doing the right thing just like you are."

"I'm glad you're here," she smiled at him and kissed him again.

Luis tapped his foot and folded his arms over his chest. "Yea, rub it in why don't you. Let's let Luis know he's still single and alone and apparently unloved."

Stark put an arm around his shoulders, "There, there, you're not alone. I love you!"

"Get off," he shrugged away from him. But the sarcasm didn't stop there.

"Ohh," George threw his arm around Luis and hugged him. "I love you too, Luis!"

Luis scrambled out of his arms, wiping at them as if he was dirty. "I didn't mean you either."

"Awwee," Oliver moved from Chell and hugged Luis. "You meant me!"

"Icckk!!" he pushed Oliver off him. "I see you every freakin day! You're as bad as Stark."

Chelly hugged him. "I missed you too, Luis."

"Same here," Ebony said and hugged him as well.

Luis smiled content. "That's better."

George sniffled and looked at Oliver. "I missed you, mate!"

Oliver sniffled too and hugged him. "Same here."

Stark grinned and hugged the two of them in a triple hug. "No one loves me either, but I love you guys."

Luis rolled his eyes. "Very funny, make fun of me."

It was then Ebony noticed the difference. His right eye seemed more focused. "Did you fix your eye, Luis?"

He touched the corner of it, tracing the scar to the point. "No, I got a gift this morning. It was a contact lens. I thought it was weird because there was only one but I put it in my good eye first and noticed nothing so I switched it to this eye and…and I could see perfectly."

"What?" Chelly questioned.

"Yea…and not just that but I could see things from really far away up close and I can see in the dark and when its appropriate, I guess, I can see through walls."

Ebony snorted. "You tried looking through the Prefect bathroom wall didn't you?"

Luis shrugged. "Can't blame me for trying."

"Did you do it, Stark?" Ebony asked.

He shook his head, "No, it wasn't me. I'm not that good at spelling objects."

"Who was it from then?" Chelly asked.

"Don't know," he said with a heavy sigh. "But someone knew enough about me to block me from using it for my own means."

"Everyone knows that," Stark snorted.

"Good for them," Oliver nodded in approval.

"Like I'd want to see you naked," Luis snorted.

"_I_ want to see you naked," Chelly grinned and hugged her boyfriend's arm.

"Oookkayy, too much information," Luis said and held a hand up to stop them before conversation could go any further. "What do you say we move this to the kitchen where food is?"

"Sounds good to me," Chelly led the way.

"I figured you'd say that," Stark snorted and dodged as she moved to smack him.

Ebony smiled and followed her friends chatting about nothing and everything at the same time. Christmas wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. It wasn't as lonely or dreary as she had imagined it to feel without her father. With her friends there she wasn't alone after all, even in the darkest of times. No matter what, she still had them, and there was nothing more she could hope for without her dad there. And there was always next year if they all survived this one.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: Here I only own Chelly and Ebony. No Luis or Stark in this chapter_

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CH13 – UNEXPECTED VISITS AND VISIONS

Months passed. The year changed without much of an upheaval and winter gave way to spring. Ebony and Chelly enjoyed the short quiet and managed to visit her Aunt Andromeda and saw Tonks who was getting ready to burst with her huge belly that held Ebony's new cousin. The two only dared stay for an hour before heading back to the house where two more weeks passed before they had another unexpected visit in the beginning of March.

Ebony had been in the kitchen and Chelly was in the living room watching a movie in her usual jeans a t-shirt with her fuzzy slippers on. By force of habit she was wearing her Death Eater pendant though she resented it, but as Ebony had put it was better to be safe than sorry, especially nowadays with the death of Ted Tonks not to mention a few Death Eaters who had shown disloyalty to He Who Should Not Be Named. They couldn't even speak Voldermort's name anymore. A tag had been put on it so that anyone who uttered the name could be found since only Mudbloods and traitors would dare say it. It left a bitter taste in her mouth when she was forced to call him the Dark Lord.

There was a knock on the front door. Popping a chip in her mouth, Chelly stood up from her chair and bounded to the door, "I got it."

She opened the door and came face to face with a bouquet of flowers. They were white roses, at least a dozen with a few white lilies spread through. Chelly thought they were beautiful as they dazzled her eyes, and she found the red drops on them to be even more tantalizing. Such a contrast against the purity. She reached out and traced a petal, memorized by them and their scent that smelt even sweeter for some reason.

"Beautiful aren't there…almost intoxicating," the voice of the giver said.

Chelly nodded still bespelled by them as she traced the petals.

"We have stronger senses, these things are appreciated more by us," the raspy deep voice said and she blinked up and met the dark eyes of her father, his canine sharp smile causing her to gasp in surprise as he stepped his large frame in the door. Chelly was forced to step back as he made his way in, her hand still on the flowers. "I've been waiting to see you a long time, Chelly."

She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't find her voice.

"Last I saw you, you were unconscious on the floor. Glad to see you're doing better than before," his eyes fell to the necklace and he beamed with his sharp teeth in what she assumed was a smile. "It looks good on you, the Dark Mark."

Her free hand touched it, still robbed of her voice as she stared at her father and that smile. The same smile that tore the throats out of Mudbloods and little kids. That had nearly killed Bill and made Lupin into a werewolf.

"Well don't you have anything to say to your old man after all these years?" he asked.

Chelly gaped unable to speak, only make small noises. Luckily Ebony came into the room, playing right into character. "Greyback! Good to see you. I hope all is well with your visit here?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Just came to see my daughter, she seems a bit speechless,"

"How can she not be? She's never spoken to you before. She's just shocked is all," Ebony nudged Chelly.

Chelly seemed to snap out of it. "Yeah, yeah…that's it. I'm sorry. It's just…I've never met you till today and…and I don't know what to say."

"I wanted to come sooner but you know I've been busy making money killing off all these mud bloods for the Dark Lord, great sport though," he smiled like he was talking about a good game of golf and not killing people.

"It's okay," she nodded.

Ebony eyed the flowers looking for a way to help her. "What beautiful flowers," she said.

"They're for Chelly, thought she might like them," he handed them to her and with shaky hands she took them from him. Still dazed by their sweet fragrance though. He noticed and had a proud smile. "You find them as sweet as I do, I hoped you would. You're picking up the flowers smell along with the blood."

Chelly froze mid sniff and her eyes wondered up. "Blood?"

He nodded. "That's what I speckled on them. Killed the flower shop owner and dripped her blood across them to add that extra sweet smell. Thought you might like them."

Ebony eyed Chelly, praying she wouldn't freak out. Luckily for both of them she nodded her head and put on a smile though her face grew paler. "They're wonderful."

"Thought so, so happy birthday."

She cleared her throat slightly, "My birthday is May 2nd."

"Really?" he frowned and rubbed his chin. "Thought it was March 2nd."

"You were close," Ebony told him with a shrug.

He nodded and scratched the back of his head. "I better be off. Should be getting calls soon on Mudbloods to kill. I'll see you later, cub," he said and nudged Chelly's cheek with his hand.

The minute the door shut Chelly dropped the flowers and Ebony grabbed them midair before the vase could shatter as her friend took the stairs two at a time and slammed the door to the bathroom. She heard her throw up a second later and disposed of the blood flowers then waited for Chelly in the living room.

She came down the stairs a few minutes later, drained of color and sat on the couch. "They smelled sweet, Eb…fuck, they smelled sweet."

"You have a sensitive nose remember? Of course they did. It runs in your blood but it doesn't make you a monster's like the rest of them."

"How does it not?" she asked with a groan.

"Because we don't kill for fun. We don't give in to how easy it is to be on the bad side. We keep fighting for the good no matter how hard it is…just like Dumbledore said…just like Sirius said. Everyone has good and bad in them, it's just which you choose to be that makes you who you are."

She groaned anyway and Ebony took a seat next to her. It was all forgotten a few days later, but the month was proving not to be as quiet as the last two had been. It was only five days later when things began picking up.

Chelly finished her laundry and went back into the living room to fold it, setting it on the couch a she did so. Her eyesight began to blur and she rubbed at them, thinking it was her tiredness. But it came to no avail. She blinked, her sight becoming fuzzy. A vision swam into her view. It was the first she had had since December and seeing Harry attacked in Godric's Hollow. She'd almost given up on having them at all. They were in Malfoy Manor, she could tell by the decorations and dreariness of the place. But the shock came from seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione there, right in the heart of Voldermort's lair.

She saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione. There was a fight going on. Blazes of light from wands were flying everywhere and in the mix of it she saw Scabior point his wand at Ron and heard the killing curse echo through the room. Hermione saw it before Ron did and shoved him out of the way, getting hit with the curse and dropping dead to the floor, eyes unseeing on the ceiling. Ron opened his mouth to shout her name but found his eyes wide in surprise as Greyback grabbed him around the neck with his clawed hand and a grin on his face. With a jerk of his hand and a loud snapping noise that caused Chelly to wince, Ron was dead. She could hear the pained scream of Harry as both his friends were killed and the grief in him was too much for her to bear but something caught her attention from the right. Bellatrix, with her shiny knife. She threw it and with a gasp from Chelly it hit its mark burying itself in Harry's chest. The stunned look on Harry's face matched her own and he fell to his knees blinking a few times I the shock before falling sideways. The Boy who Lived was finally dead.

Her vision broke and she was panting, scared out of her mind. Ebony was already right there, her voice echoing until it all came into focus.

"Chelly? Chell? What did you see?"

"They died."

"Who died?" she asked holding her friends arms still.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were killed. They'll _be_ killed. They get found out," she said in a frantic pace.

"Calm down. It hasn't happened yet."

"But it will!"

"We'll stop it," she promised.

"We just don't know when, Eb!"

They both heard the pulsing noise and turned to the coffee table where Ebony's compass lay. It was pulsing, glowing even. Ebony was quick to pick it up and flick it open. The swirling mist cleared to show them the present and it wasn't good.

The three were standing in their tent. Harry's face was swollen from a spell to try and hide him and Ron's lip was bleeding as they questioned him on his name he obviously lied about. Chelly let out a gasp. It was her father. Greyback was interrogating them, wearing the same clothes he had been in his vision when he killed Ron. They were all in the same clothes. Her vision would happen tonight.

"Who are you, girly?" he asked questioning Hermione.

"Penelope Clearwater," she spoke in fear but was at least convincing.

"Easy enough to check," Scabior said and Chelly recognized him as the one who ended up killing Hermione. "But the 'old lot of 'em look like they could still be 'ogwart's age."

"We'b lebt," Ron said through his busted lip.

"Left, 'ave you, ginger?" said Scabior. "And you decided to go camping? And you thought, just for a laugh, you'd use the Dark Lord's name?"

"Nod a laugh," said Ron. "Aggiden."

"Accident?"

"You know who likes to use the Dark Lord's name, Weasley?" growled Greyback. "The Order of the Phoenix. Mean anything to you?"

"No."

"Well, they don't show the Dark Lord proper respect. A few Orders have been tracked that way," he smiled. "Helps when you have inside help to the Order though."

There was a shocked look on the other's faces he went off on. "Oh, you didn't know that? Yeah, see my little girl plays part in it all…she's a good actress you know. Fooled everybody. Graduated Hogwart's, passed her Order exam, got in and helped out…makes me a proud papa…"

"Who is she?"

"My little girl? I shouldn't tell, but seeing as how you're not going anywhere…," he smiled. "You might just know her. Murillo. Chelly Murillo."

The look of shock crossed their faces and Chelly swore next to Ebony. "You _do_ know her. How intriguing…"

Ebony shook her head, this was going bad…but then she remembered this was going on now. And if they planned on saving the three then the three had to be captured knowing who they were…and if they were to save them they had to have an air tight alibi.

Ebony turned her head quickly to Chelly. "You need to call your dad with your Dark Mirror piece and let him know that he has Harry, Hermione and Ron in his possession and that the Dark Lord is based at Malfoy Manor."

"What?" she shrieked. "Are you nuts? That's where I saw them die."

"If you want to save them you have to do this or he might kill them now thinking they're nothing, Chell. He won't let them live now that they know you're working from the inside and they know you. He'll think they're nobodies and kill them but if he finds out that they are the three he'll take them to the Dark Lord for the reward. Trust me."

Chelly thought about it for a split second before grabbing her Dark Mirror piece from her purse. She held it up to look in it. "Fenrir Greyback," she said and the glass swirled. Moments later her father was looking in the mirror.

"I'm a little busy right now, cub."

"Wait! Listen to me! I just had a vision. You have Harry Potter in your grasp right now. Don't kill those three."

His eyes widened. "Potter? Are you sure?"

"Yes! You have Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley with you right now. I just saw it. Don't kill them."

He glanced away with a cold grin. "Three seconds later and I'd have made a pricey mistake…Potter, you say?"

"I swear it," she nodded and felt the guilt rise in her as she gave her friends up. "Take them to the Dark Lord. He's at Malfoy Manor. It'll be a hefty reward for us all. I'd come join you if I still wasn't under cover."

"You've made me proud. I'll see you later," the mirror went dark and Chelly dropped it to her purse defeated.

"I hope you're happy," she said in disdain.

Ebony closed her compass and set it back on the table and stood up. "You had no choice. You heard him, he was about to kill them, Chell, they had to get to the manor or we'd never be able to stop it."

"What do we do?" she asked letting her hands flop to her sides.

"We need to help them," Ebony told her. "We need to teleport in there and get them out before what you saw happen does."

"But how?" Chelly asked panicked. "We can't just pop into the Malfoy Manor."

"Yes we can. I can get us in past any defense, it's simple. I did before with the Floo Powder"

Chelly shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I meant they know who we are. They know what we look like, they think we are Death Eaters or at least part of their cause. Especially you. We can't go in there looking like us especially now of all times."

"You're right…," Ebony ran her fingers through her hair and paused. "But you can transform us."

"Me?" Chelly squealed.

"You were the best at Transfiguration. You could transform anyone into anything. Hell I saw you make Fluffy into a bean bag without blinking an eye. You could make us into someone else so we can pop in there, save them, and get out. Harry and them won't even know it's us."

"I don't know about this."

"You have to Chelly, we can't let them die. This is the one chance we have to change what you see and we can't let Harry, Ron, and Hermione die. We can't."

"Okay," she took a deep breath and pulled out her wand. "I can do this."

"Will it last long enough?"

"With my spells it last longer than poly juice potions…you ready?" she asked.

Ebony closed her eyes. "Go for it."

"_Transformelio totalius_," she heard Chelly say and felt her skin growing warm. She kept her eyes closed until the warm sensation stopped and opened her eyes. Her skin was paler, her hands slim and pristine and she ran her fingers through her hair which felt longer and was a dark red in color. Her face felt rounder.

She frowned and moved to the mirror, gasping loudly and bringing a hand to her mouth in shock. It was no longer herself staring back. It was Kate Winslet. She turned to Chelly who no longer looked like herself but like Jennifer Love Hewitt.

"Hey, it worked," she said with Hewitt's American accent and removed her Death Eater necklace and other jewelry she usually wore.

"Actors, Chelly? Really? You couldn't use your imagination for something a bit more realistic. Instead I have to look like a girl from a shipwreck iceberg movie with no sense or sensibility in her," she said and found it odd to not have her own voice. She too removed her mother's bracelet and her Death Eater necklace along with her engagement ring.

"I could have done worse and I had to do something quickly. We don't have time for me to think things over," she glanced down at her well set chest that was too big for her top. "I think I'll change our clothes while I'm at it." She pointed her wand at Ebony first.

"I swear to God if you give me a Jane Austen dress I will know who killed you last summer," she warned her.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it simple. _Clothiasius Changigorious_."

Ebony's jeans turned to a knee length denim skirt and her tank top turned into a long sleeve dark red blouse with ballet flats. "A skirt?" she growled.

"Hey, it's totally not youish so they won't suspect a thing. I even hid your ring."

Ebony looked at her hand and saw a ruby ring where her black pearl ring usually was. "You'll have to use your wand," Chelly said and handed it to her from the backpack.

"Love your outfit," she mumbled and took her wand.

Chelly grinned, posing in her hip hugger blue jeans with the baby blue top that showed off her curves. "I love it."

"Yeah, for once you have boobs."

"Shut up," she glared.

"And your eyes aren't Asian."

"Don't make me turn you into something worse," she warned with her wand.

She rolled her eyes. "Let's just do this shall we."

"Okay," she nodded and stepped next to Ebony. "Wait! We need to have other names. I can't call you, Eb. Hmm…I'll call you, Leyla."

"Leyla?" she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and you call me…," she thought about it, tapping a nail against her chin. "Lizzy."

"Lizzy and Leyla? Where did you get those?"

"Luis," she shrugged.

"He needs to think of better names…," she looked at her Winslet body. "And you need to think of better bodies."

"No one will expect us," she guaranteed.

"That's for sure," she snorted and took a deep breath, wand tight in hand. "Here goes nothing."

With deep breaths and hopes that all would turn out well from this, the two disappeared from the living room and would soon wind up in the pits of hell for a battle they weren't sure of the outcome.

**CH 14**

It didn't take long until they were there, in the Manor but luckily not in the middle of the floor room. Ebony ducked her head cautiously out of the room they were in and found the hallway deserted. With her wand in one hand she signaled Chelly to follow her and ducked into a crevice down the hall. She'd visited here enough to know at the end of the corridor was the main entrance way and a staircase off to the right that led to the basement. The den was behind the large double doors to the left where they had visited Voldermort. She could hear voices down the hall, distinctly heard Bellatrix's hissing voice.

"You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, _tell the truth!_"

They both winced as they heard Hermione scream, tortured by her cousin. Chelly moved and Ebony put her hand out shaking her head. Now was not the time to interfere. They had to wait until Harry and Ron were in the room as well. They heard Ron's voice echoing from the basement as he shouted Hermione's name. This was hard to bear.

"What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with my knife."

Chelly tensed next to her and Ebony gripped her arm to keep her from rushing out there. Not yet...not yet.

"How did you get in my vault?" Bellatrix questioned. "Did that dirty goblin help you?"

"We only met him tonight," Hermione sobbed from the room. "We've never been inside your vault…it isn't the real sword! It's a copy, just a copy!"

"A copy?" she screeched. "Likely story."

"But we can find out easily," they heard Lucius say. "Draco, fetch the goblin. He can tell us whether the sword is real or not."

Chelly patted her shoulder and mouthed "sword" with a questionable look on her face.

"Gryffindor's sword," she mouthed back and Chelly nodded her mouth forming an O.

The two girls heard a loud crack, the sound of someone disapparating who wasn't that great at it. Like Dobby…Ebony thought.

"What was that?" Lucius questioned. "It came from the cellar."

They could see Wormtail hurry to the cellar and Ebony's eyes widened Harry was down there. She looked at Chelly who's Jennifer Love Hewitt face was just as worried. Luna was down there as well.

They waited. Nothing happened. No fighting, No loud noises.

"Well?" Bellatrix questioned from the main room again. "Is it the sword?"

"No," Griphook said. "It's a fake."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," said the goblin.

"Good, and now we should call the Dark Lord," she said and Ebony felt her birthmark burn slightly. She looked down at her arm but Chelly's transformations were impeccable. There was no sign of the mark on her arm.

"And I think," Bellatrix went on and she heard the smile in her voice, "we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her."

"NOOOOOOO!" they heard and Ron burst into the drawing room. Chelly and Ebony took that as their cue and burst into the room from the other side, drawing the attention of the rest of the Death Eater's.

"_Stupefy!" _Ebony shouted at one, sending him flying into the wall behind him.

"_Perxifus!"_ Chelly said next to her and Narcissa dropped to the floor like a rag doll, her body useless to her as she was paralyzed.

Across the way Harry disarmed Bellatrix, not noticing them yet. "Don't even think about it," she said to Lucius as he edged towards his cane. "_Accio_ _cane_," it flew up in the air and she caught it with her free hand, tossing it aside.

Four more Death Eater's entered the room from the door across the way and Chelly and Ebony ducked behind a turned over table near the window as green jets flew everywhere. "Can you get him, _Lizzy_?" she teased.

Chelly rolled her eyes and studied the reflection in the metal vase on the floor. The Death Eater aiming at them was near the door. Her vision turned blurry for a moment as another vision came to her. Bellatrix holding Hermione with a knife and them dropping their wands, defenseless. It cleared away and she smiled, prepared this time. She inched her hand towards Ebony's wand and took it, putting it in her back pocket and replacing it with another before she could notice. "Got it," she waited a moment then rolled out from the table and aimed her wand. "_FLAGRANTIA STUPEFY!" _The Death Eater caught fire and flew back through the doors taking two more with him from the force. She tucked her wand into her sock and pulled her pant leg over it, grabbing the "replacement wand" instead.

"Nice," Ebony nodded in approval, peeking out to watch, noticing nothing else.

Chelly blew on the tip of her wand smugly. "Thanks."

"STOP OR SHE DIES!"

Both turned to see Bellatrix supporting an unconscious Hermione, holding her silver knife to her throat. "Drop your wands or she dies! All of you."

"I said drop them!" Bellatrix shouted and they saw the blood run down Hermione's neck.

Chelly dropped her wand to the ground and so did Ebony, holding their hands up to show they were dropped. Ebony eyed Chelly who smiled a bit despite their situation and glanced at her leg. She followed her gaze and saw the wand on the ground was a fake and so was hers. It was a Weasley product. She tried not to chuckle as Draco picked up the wands, not knowing what they really were. Instead while Bellatrix was talking she noticed something. The large chandelier above. She never thought it would come in handy.

She kept her eyes on it, repeating the same spell in her head, waiting.

"Now, I think our heroes and their new friends over there need to be tied up while Greyback here takes care of Miss Mudblood. I am sure the Dark Lord won't miss the girl."

The chandelier started to tremble and creak. Everyone looked up in time to see it shaking and then jingle ominously as it began to fall. Chelly moved from next to her as it did. Bellatrix was directly beneath it and screamed, dropping Hermione she threw herself from the path. The chandelier crashed to the floor in an explosion of crystals and chains. Glittering shards flew in every direction and Ebony ducked behind the table, standing back up as it stopped. Draco was doubled over, clutching his bloody face. Chelly was on the other side of the room, having moved Hermione out of the way before it was too late. Draco glanced at her through his bloody hands and pointed her wand at her. It backfired being a Weasley product and sent him into the wall, unconscious. Luckily Greyback had tried the other with the same effect, taking him out of the picture for now.

Dobby appeared out of nowhere. At least she hadn't seen him enter the room, "You must not hurt Harry Potter!" he pointed at Bellatrix.

"You dirty little monkey," she seethed. "How dare you take a witches wand, how dare you defy your masters."

"Dobby has no master," he told her. "Dobby is a free elf and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends."

Ebony thought of how cute that was for a split second as she dropped the Order of the Phoenix necklace from her pocket onto the floor. More of an alibi for them later to throw everyone completely off her and Chelly later just in case. Across the way, Chelly handed Hermione to Ron. "Here take her."

"Who are you?" Ron asked her staring at her.

"A friend, now go," she ordered and hurried across the room to Ebony, handing her wand to her. "Ready to get?"

"More than ever," she nodded and looked over to see Harry leaving with Griphook and Dobby but seeing Bellatrix throw her knife at the same time

With a swirl of mist both Disapparated out before Ebony could see the outcome. They were back in Grimmauld a moment later and Ebony was still horror struck. The knife. She threw the knife at Harry. It could have hit him. He could be hurt…or worse. He could be dead.

"That was fun," Chelly mumbled not noticing her friend yet. She waved her wand at her and Ebony, transforming them back into themselves in their own clothes and went about putting her jewelry back on. "What do you say?"

When she heard nothing she looked at Eb and saw the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Harry…Bellatrix threw her knife just before he Disapparated…it could have hit Harry," she said and fell onto the couch. She picked up her compass. "I have to find out." She flung it open and gazed into the swirling mist.

The sight that was bestowed upon her devastated her, but not in the outcome she expected. Harry's eyes were wide as wide as Dobby's as both stared at the silver knife in the elf's heaving chest. "Dobby – no – HELP!" Harry bellowed towards the cottage in the distance, Bill and Fleur's home she realized, but no one heard him. No one but her and Chelly and there was nothing they could do. "HELP!"

A dark stain spread across the elf's front and Harry caught him as his legs gave way, holding him in the grass. "Dobby, no, don't die, don't die-."

"Harry…Potter," the elf said with much effort and a shudder went through him and then he was still, his glassy eyes staring into the stars above he could not see. The mist swirled over the picture, becoming the regular compass. Ebony shut it silently and set it on the table. Dobby was dead. Joining the tally of Mad Eye Moody and Hedwig and Ted Tonks. The first of what would be many.

"It's my fault," Chelly mumbled.

Ebony turned on the couch to look at her stricken face. "How do you figure that?"

"I changed it. I changed the outcome."

"You saved Ron, Hermione, and Harry. You saved the reason this is going on. If we hadn't the Dark Lord would have won."

"Dobby died."

"Yes," she nodded. "And so will many more for this cause…Dobby is just another on the list of many that have died and the many that still will die, Chell. We can't save them all."

"That's what makes this so hard, Eb," Chelly ran her fingers through her hair. "We have a huge battle ahead of us and I'm going to get visions of people dying and I don't know who to save because I don't know who will die in their place. And then there's some I can't even change if I wanted too. How do we do this? How do we choose?"

"We just do," she said simply, looking at the black pearl ring on her finger and thinking of her father, hoping she'd never have to choose. "When we get the chance, we just do."


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I own the exact same four _

_Very short chapter. Another will be posted before the day ends._

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**CH 15**

After that last battle at the Manor things had grown quiet once more. Ebony's twenty-third birthday came and went without any events and they were already towards the end of April as the minutes ticked to a new month. No one had visited and very few words were written in letters. One being from Luis saying Stark left the school, not in abandonment but because he'd be next to be killed. It was reassuring her he was safe. Another letter being from Lupin announcing the arrival of his son Teddy and Ebony as the God Mother while Harry was the God father. All Ebony had was a picture of him since she was unable to see him due to the fear of seeking unnecessary danger on the family. She had heard nothing from Harry and the others and very little from George.

She imagined Chelly was as nervous as she was on this note, but most of the fear had subsided when they were never investigated for what happened at Malfoy Manor. The Order was being held responsible for it. Her plan had worked. She had dropped the Order necklace to throw them off any trail they might have had and it had helped that Chelly had given away Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Though she worried what the three would think now that they thought Chelly was working for the Dark Lord and they probably connected Ebony to it by relation now more than ever. The reunion might not be a happy one next time around.

"So, what do you think of ribs for dinner?" Chelly asked out of the blue though Ebony was aware she'd been talking for some time now. She just hadn't been tuned in to hearing her.

"For when?"

"Dinner."

"Sounds good," she shrugged.

Chelly glared at her, cheeks huffing. "You haven't been listening to a word I said have you?"

"Not really," she shook her head.

She pouted, "My birthday is pretty much twenty-four hours away and you're off in la la land."

"Sorry, Chell," she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Do you even care? I mean we need something to look forward to besides all this gloomy crap," she went on and Ebony inspected her aqua blue nails. "And I deserve a nice birthday. It's been a shitty year since last summer. With Dumbledore's death and us playing Death Eater and me finding my Dad, as disturbing as that's been and then not seeing Oliver or being at Hogwart's. Not to mention no sex, it's been crap so I want a nice birthday. Good food, good friends, good presents. Decorations and everything and a really good cake. I want a birthday to remember!"

She beamed and glanced at Ebony. Her smile fell as she saw her friend picking at her nails and adding on another coat of polish, obviously tuned out to everything she had just said.

"You're not even listening!"

"Yes, I am…"

"Then what I just say?"

Ebony shrugged with a smile. "You're whining about something and food was probably in there as well as you ranted away."

Chelly reached over and smacked her shoulder. As her hand collided with Ebony's arm a vision flashed through her. They were in their chamber at Hogwart's, standing by the fireplace. She couldn't see herself, just her hands. The colorful bracelets Luna had given her and the purple nail polish she had just put on with her snitch ring from Oliver on one hand and a Garfield band aide on the opposite hand along with her Ravenclaw ring. The door opened to the chamber and Snape stood there. Chelly watched as father and daughter were reunited for the first time in nearly a year. Ebony was wearing dark blue jeans and long sleeve see through black tunic sweater that fit her torso and hung down to just above her knees with a light blue spaghetti strap underneath the see through like material and nails to match, her dark hair flowing down with her bangs hanging over her left eye. The vision disappeared and she blinked looking at Ebony, the exact same as her vision. She looked down at her hands, stared at the purple nail polish and snitch ring, glanced at the Ravenclaw ring on her other finger, but there was no band aide.

"You okay?" Ebony asked her as she moved her bangs from her eyes unsuccessfully to have them fall back in place over her left eye again.

"Yeah…just thought I had a vision," she said and figured it couldn't have been real.

"Of?"

"Nothing," she shook her head best not to give her friends hopes up and picked up the dishes from the table. She turned to head towards the kitchen and tripped on her shoelace, dropping the plates and sending them crashing to the floor with herself. She put her hand out and caught herself, her right hand turned on the ground scrapping the glass and she winced.

"Are you okay?" Ebony chuckled and waved her hand, getting rid of the dishes with her ring.

Chelly was too busy staring at the blood trickling down the back of her hand.

"You cut yourself, let me get you a band aide," Ebony said though Chelly barely heard her and stood to her feet, still staring in awe. "Here," Ebony handed her the wrapper. "It's the only kind we got. You need to be more careful klutzy girl. Kreacher won't like us breaking all his plates."

Chelly unwrapped the band aide and her eyes widened. It was Garfield. The exact same as her vision. She put it on and ran her finger over it, making sure it was real before looking at Ebony with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open as she tried to believe it. It was everything Ebony had been waiting for. Everything they had both hoped for, to go home. To be at home. It was everything they wanted and she found it too good to be true. But she saw it. It was real. It was going to happen.

"I…my vision…it was real. I didn't think it was because I didn't have this band aide til now...but I saw us. I saw us home at Hogwart's…in our chamber."

Ebony's grin fell into a serious look and she heard her gasp. "When?"

"You were wearing those exact same clothes…it's today, Eb…I saw us there today…we're going home…"

"What did you see?" she asked and put her hand on Chelly's elbow.

"I saw you with your dad again…you get to see him again…"

"Today…" Ebony said breathless.

Chelly nodded with a smile. "Right now…we get to go home right now…"

Ebony ran up the stairs to grab her things and hardly noticed Chelly doing the same. It took them less time than they had to pack before times like this and they were back in the living room. Chelly slipped her Reviving Potion into her front pocket and Ebony tucked her compass into the pocket on the side of her sweater.

She glanced at Chelly. "Ready?"

"Definitely."

They both took a quick breath and Disapparated out of the house and just outside the gates of Hogwart's. Being part of the Death Eater's meant they were able to get to the gates without setting off an alarm although she was sure they'd know the two were there now.

They both stood there, in the dark of the night staring up at the castle beyond the gates, illuminated by the moonlight. Even though darkness possessed it, it still held that otherly world beauty that took their breath away. The cool air brushed against them and they could once again smell the pine of the Forbidden forest, the saltiness of the lake and hear the groaning of the whomping willow.

Ebony smiled almost in tears as they walked through the gate, neither needing to say a word as their eyes spoke everything they felt. At last she was going home to see her father, and although everything was far from over, though they were walking into the middle of the darkness that lived there, it was okay. Her father was there, it was all that mattered. They were home.

* * *

**BACK HOME TO HER FATHER...REUNION TO COME...R&R IN THE MEANTIME**


	12. Chapter 12

_The moment Ebony has been waiting for..._

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* * *

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**CH 16 REUNITED**

They walked up the ever so familiar steps to the front double doors. Each step seemed to make Ebony's heart beat faster and faster. She was sure it would jump out of her throat the minute she opened her mouth. Part of her still wondered if this was nothing more than a dream, a cruel prank her mind was creating as she slept soundly at Grimmauld Place in front of the fire. But as the double doors opened and a reviled face appeared she knew it was real. After all, Yaxley wouldn't be in her dreams.

She scowled at him, "Do you just follow me around, Yaxley?"

"I work here which is more than I can say for you. I was told there were two Death Eater identified figures walking towards the castle doors, I just couldn't imagine who. Didn't think it'd be you two since I heard no word of you coming back here from the Head Master nor the Dark Lord."

"We came back because I saw we were supposed to," Chelly answered narrowly to him.

"And have you seen anything on Potter?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but no, not since he was captured by my father," Chelly said.

"And he let them get away," he reminded her smugly.

Chelly folded her arms over her chest and slanted her hips. "Are you calling my father an idiot because I'm sure he'd love to know about it?"

Yaxley paled in the fire light from the torches along the wall. "No."

"Because I think he'd find it amusing…he's been looking for something to take his anger out on and you know my father's temper get's pretty…rough."

Yaxley gulped audibly and Ebony smiled adjusting her pack on her shoulder. "See, Yaxley, at least her father caught the three of them. It's not his fault Bellatrix slipped up. He delivered them as he was supposed to and Bellatrix left Harry and Ron unattended in the cell. I know Wormtail tried to stop him and was killed by his own hand, but still…three teenagers masterminded a group of Death Eaters."

"They had help from the Order."

"Have you found these people yet?"

"No," he shook his head. "They were in disguise we hear…"

Ebony sighed. "Which is why we came back here…we figure we'd get more information here then we would out there."

"How so?" he asked curiously.

Chelly answered this one, "We have friends here, people trust us. They'll say anything we need to hear."

"That's the key…you play both sides," Ebony grinned.

Yaxley hesitated in the doorway. "I still find it odd that your cousin, Chelly, was rescued as well."

She licked the inside of her cheek and shook her head with a smile. "Wow…my dad is going to _love_ the letter I write to him tonight."

He paled even more, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Sounded to me like you were calling Chelly a liar," Ebony put in her two cents.

"That's what I heard," she nodded in agreement.

"You better think about your words before you speak them, Yaxley," Ebony said and shouldered her way past him. "You forget who are parent's are and where we stand on the Dark Lord's side."

The two kept walking past the shaking Death Eater who was unsure if he'd be called to the Head Master's office or receive an unwanted visit from a very pissed off werewolf. They got some enjoyment out of that. They turned down the hall into the winding staircases and went down the staircase into the dungeon area and down another dark corridor.

What seemed like hours but was only minutes later the two stood in front of the door to the chambers. Ebony could feel her heart pounding once again as she stared at the wooden barrier blocking her from her home. She'd been waiting for this moment for a year but couldn't bring herseld to touch the door.

Chelly nudged her, "Go ahead."

She shook her head. "You open it."

"No you do it."

"I can't."

"Yes you can, it's your home."

"It's yours too."

"You lived there first."

"You live there now."

"He's your father, you've been waiting for this moment forever. Open the door."

Chelly had her there and she raised her shaky hand. The magic around the door glowed and she heard the click. Her identity could still open the door, her father hadn't changed it, hadn't removed her from the protection list. With a deep breath she moved her hand to the doorknob and pushed it open.

The two stood in the entry way gazing into the fire lit chamber. Nothing had changed. Everything was still exactly the same as the day she had left. Chelly jabbed her with her elbow and gestured for her to move in. It felt the same. It was still warm and smelled off spells and potion mixes with the faint scent of lavender and jasmine. Pictures still sat on the top of the fireplace, her chair was still angled across from her father's. It still felt like home.

"I'm going to go in my room," Chelly smiled and walked past the couch and Ebony's chair towards her bedroom and disappeared a moment later, clicking the door in place.

Ebony stood there and set her pack on the couch before dragging her hand across the arm of her father's chair. She crossed to her own and touched it. With slow leisurely movements she sat down, finding her chair had not been disturbed by others and still fit her. She rubbed her hands across her jeans, finding them sticky with sweat. This was the most nervous she had ever been and for something as mundane as seeing her dad. She imagined he'd be on his way here soon since she knew he wasn't already here. She didn't _feel_ him in the chambers when she approached it and he'd have come out the minute he heard the door open since she and Chelly were the only other two who could open the door. She wasn't sure what she'd say to him, what he'd say. Would he be happy she was home? Would he be upset she came back? Would he explain what happened that night? Would he tell her why he left her? Would he'd still be the same?

The door clicked and Ebony's head shot from the fireplace to the gradually swinging door frozen in place. Her breath caught in her throat as Ebony stared at her father, feeling his eyes bore into her with the same uncertainty and the conflicted gleam of leaving the chamber or staying where he was. She felt it too. The same conflict that haunted her every day since he had left. The uncertainty, the fear that nothing would be the same again and that there was no going back, that'd she'd remain alone.

She opened her mouth, prepared to be strong, to be the young woman he had raised who was able to hold her head high through everything she had over the year on her own, but she couldn't help the broken note in her voice or the tears that sprang to her eyes, "Daddy…"

The word said it all, said everything she felt and everything she had carried in her for so long. The minute the broken word fell from her lips Snape crossed the room in three steps and gathered her in his arms and her image broke in his security. She clung to him, her hands wrapping around his back as if to never be ripped from him again. She buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed in her relief, in her sadness.

"Ebony," he said and stroked her dark hair and she felt his arms tighten around her. She needed that. She had needed to know that it was just as hard for him as it had been for her. "Why did you come back?"

"I had to," she sniffled. "Chelly saw us come home, she saw us here and she knew it was time to come back. I didn't need a reason. I just wanted to be here."

He pulled her back, but kept his hands on her arms. She smiled at him through her tears. She'd waited so long to see him again that just to be around him was enough. "It was a dangerous move."

"So was what I've been doing for the last year…hell for the last 7 years, but it's safer when I'm with you then it is out there on my own."

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes with one hand and she could see the dark spots under them, "I can't say I'm not happy to have you back here…but it's not easy here…"

"And you think it's been easy for me since last May?" she asked. "I was looked at as the daughter of the greatest betrayer and I stood up for you every second of every day while people looked at me with shame and hate. My own friends had a hard time staying next to me. And I'm sure by now Harry and the others think I'm a Death Eater since they found out Chelly's dad is Fenrir Greyback. It's been really _really_ hard. So please don't say it's hard here when you have no idea what it's been like for me being the daughter of the man who killed Dumbledore and not knowing why."

He winced at that and looked away.

"I knew I was right…I knew there was more to the story than what Harry saw. I tried piecing it together because I knew you wouldn't kill Dumbledore without him being part of it as well…I knew something wasn't right. What happened that night, Dad?"

"Ebony I can't-."

"No," she shook her head. "No more. I deserve to at least hear this. No more walking around it, no more hesitation. I want to hear everything, Dad. I need to hear it all and I need to hear it now."

He looked cornered to her and for a moment she thought he'd turn and walk away, but he gave in, shoulders slumping in defeat. "I'd rather show you…"

Ebony understood his words and licked her suddenly dry lips before uttering the words, "Legilimens."

She felt herself pulled through her father's mind as memories flew past her until they suddenly stopped. She was outside but still at Hogwarts on a much brighter day under one of the big trees that had a perfect view of the school as well as the lake and the Shrieking Shack in the distance of Hogsmeade.

"You're my best friend, Sev," Ebony turned around at the voice and saw two students no older than fifteen. One with dark hair that hung in his face the other with red wavy hair and eyes like emeralds. The same eyes as Harry. It was Lily Evans.

He snorted and rolled his eyes and she patted his leg with a sparkling smile. "You are. You've been my best friend for years…I just don't like some of your friends."

"Like who?" he asked with a frown. She recognized that tone anywhere as her fathers .

"Like Avery? Or Mulciber? How about Malfoy?"

"Lucius?"

"Yes, him. He's as evil as they come."

"I don't think he's that evil…"

"He's a jerk."

His dark eyes flashed to hers. "And Potter and his gang of friends aren't?"

She winced at that and leaned back against the tree. "I'm not friends with them…they're just in my House…Lupin is rather sweet though."

Snape rolled his eyes. "He seems fishy…he's always sneaking off in the middle of the night…near the full moon…what's that tell you?"

"I know what you're thinking but I don't know what to say about it."

"I say he's a werewolf, and his friends are no better. Potter loves to torment others and has an ego bigger than his head and Black loves to torture others and has secrets of his own I can't quite figure out."

"Like what?"

"Like why he spends so much time up in the farthest tower when he's not in class or with his friends poking fun at others."

Ebony was wrong. They were sixteen. She only knew that because the reason Sirius had spent so much time up in the tower was because she was kept up there, a secret from everyone else.

"I don't know."

"Didn't he date Calandra for awhile?"

"Didn't you?" she countered and Ebony could have sworn she heard jealousy in Lily's voice.

He shook his head, "That's besides the point."

Lily made a tisking noise and leaned her head on Snape's. "It doesn't matter, Severus. You're my best friend. I'd do anything for you, nothing will change that."

Ebony saw the look on her father's face. A look she never really saw before. It was love. He smiled a little. "Same here, Lily…"

The scene dissolved and it was night out now in another area around Hogwart's. The wind blew around her but none of it touched her as she was standing in nothing but a memory. A blinding light shot through the air and Snape was on his knees, wand on the ground. "Don't kill me."

"That was not my intention," Dumbledore said as he Apparated into line. He waved his wand stopping the wind around them and blocking out the sound. "Well, Severus, what message does Voldermort have for me?"

Ebony saw her father was older. No longer sixteen, but in his early twenties. No more than twenty-five. "No – no message. I'm here on my own." He was wringing his hands in his own worry. "I – I come with a warning – no, a request."

"What request could a Death Eater make of me?"

"The – the Prophecy…the prediction…"

"Ah, yes," said Dumbledore. "How much did you relay to Lord Voldermort?"

"Everything…That is the reason why…he thinks its Lily Evans!"

"The Prophecy did not refer to a woman. It spoke of a boy born at the end of July."

"You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son. He is going to hunt her down and kill them all."

"If she means so much to you surely Voldermort will spare her? Could you not ask him for mercy for the mother in exchange for the son?"

"I have asked him…"

"You disgust me," said Dumbledore and Ebony had never heard so much contempt in his voice. "You do not care then about the deaths of her husband or her son? They can die as long as you have what you want?"

Snape said nothing but merely looked up at Dumbledore. "Hide them all then…keep her – them – safe. Please?"

Her father was near tears as he begged for the life of the woman he had loved. Ebony was near tears as well. She'd never seen her father so selflessly and shamelessly beg for someone's life. She never expected this same man to, the very next day, take her into his home after Sirius was arrested for murder and raise her as his own.

"And what will you give me in return, Severus?"

"Anything," he said.

The hilltop faded and Ebony stood in Dumbledore's office. Snape sat in a chair across from him in complete dismay, eyes red with tears. "I thought you were going to keep them safe…"

"She and James put their faith in the wrong person…rather like you Severus…weren't you hoping he'd spare her?"

Snape said nothing. "Sirius Black was arrested…for betraying them…"

"Yes…he was," he said and shifted. Ebony knew that Dumbledore knew the truth on the situation. That it hadn't been Black but Wormtail who gave them up. "Her boy lives."

Snape's head jerked up at that.

"Her son lives," Dumbledore repeated. "He has her eyes. You remember Lily's eyes, I'm sure."

He shook his head and closed his eyes. "Gone…dead…"

"Is this remorse?"

"I wish…I wish I was dead…she was my best friend…and I…I couldn't protect her…dead…I should be too…"

"And what use would that be to anyone?" said Dumbledore. "If you love Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then you know what you must do…"

"What…what do you mean?"

"You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect her son."

"He doesn't need protection…The Dark Lord is gone."

"And he will return. And Harry Potter will be in danger..."

There was a long pause and Snape nodded. "Very well…But never tell, Dumbledore. This must be between us. Swear it! I cannot bear…especially Potter's son…I want your word."

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you," he nodded his head. "But we are not done here," he stood up and crossed to the front of his desk. "I have another stop to make and I'd like you to accompany me."

"With what?" Snape asked puzzled.

"Sirius Black was arrested, remember? His daughter is left alone and I must meet to discuss what is to happen to her."

"Why do you need me to come along? Why should I care?"

"Merely witness," Dumbledore shrugged. "You may find her to be quite remarkable."

The scene dissolved away and Snape was pacing in front of Dumbledore, far older now. "Mediocre, arrogant as his father, a determined rulebreaker, delighted to find himself famous, attention seeking and impertinent –."

"You see what you expect to see, Severus," said Dumbledore without raising his eyes from his newspaper. "Your daughter seems to have made a friendship with him."

He rolled his eyes. "Ebony would. She's as stubborn as they come and she'll protect Potter as she's told by you."

"Don't blame me," he shrugged. "She's more or less doing it on her own free will. I merely suggested she watch out for him. She knows the situation as much as I'll reveal to her. She's a bright young woman. You've raised your daughter well."

That stopped his pacing and he froze with a nod as he swallowed hard. "Thank you…"

"Keep an eye on Quirrell," he said and turned the page in his paper.

A whirl of color and Ebony was in the entrance hall during the Yule Ball as students passed them on their way to bed.

"Well?"

"I caught Murillo with that Wood boy in a carriage, gave him a piece of mind on how to treat Chelly while I'm around…had to nearly rip off the Weasley twins ear earlier when he tried to sneak off with Ebony," he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Being a father was never this much of a pain before…"

Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "Nice to know but you know that's not what I meant."

"I know…I just needed to speak of the worries of a father before going into the other aspects," he sighed. "Karkaroff's Mark is becoming darker too. He is panicking, he fears retribution; you know how much he gave the Ministry after the Dark Lord fell. He intends to flee."

"Does he?" he asked. "Do you intend to follow him?"

Snape looked down the hall and Dumbledore followed his gaze. Ebony was down the hall, smiling and laughing with George and her friends. She caught her father looking and waved to him. Snape gave a small smile and waved back. "No…I'm not such a coward… I'd never leave my daughter to his hands…her Death Royalty is coming through more and more and he'd take her as his for it. I'd never allow him to have her…ever…"

"No, you wouldn't," Dumbledore agreed. "You are a braver man by far than Karkaroff and you'd die before you let Voldermort touch Ebony…I sometimes think we Sort too soon…"

Dumbledore walked away leaving Snape as dumbfounded as Ebony felt. She remembered that night but never knew of this. Before she could register anything else she was in the Head Master's office again. Dumbledore sagged sideways in his thronelike chair semiconscious. His right burnt hand dangled over the side and Ebony gasped at the near death sight of Dumbledore. Snape was muttering incantations, pointing his wand at the wrist of the hand, while with his left he tipped a goblet full of thick golden potion down Dumbledore's throat. A moment later his eyes fluttered open.

"Why?" Snape asked simply. "_Why_ did you put on that ring? It carries a curse, surely you realized that. Why even touch it?"

The ring lay on the desk. "I was a fool…"

"It is a miracle you were able to return here," he said furiously to the Head Master. "That ring carried a curse of extraordinary power, to contain it is all we can hope for; I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being."

"You've done well, Severus. How long do you think I have?"

Ebony frowned and looked towards her father and saw the grim look on his face. "I cannot tell. Maybe a year. There is no halting such a spell forever. It will spread eventually, it is the sort of curse that strengthens overtime."

Dumbledore smiled despite the death sentence. "I'm extremely fortunate that I have you, Severus."

"If you had summoned me a little earlier I might have been able to contain it more, buy you more time!" he said.

"No…not that…I'm referring to the plan Voldermort has about me…about his plans to have Malfoy kill me."

Her father sank down into a chair. Dumbledore went on. "He doesn't expect Draco to succeed. This is punishment for Lucius's recent failure. Torture for Draco's parents while they watch him fail. In short, the boy has had a death sentence pronounced upon him as surely as I have. Now I should have thought the natural successor to the job once Draco fails is yourself. That I think is the Dark Lord's plan. Now I want you to take him as your first priority and leave Ebony out of this one, she cannot know of any of this. But help the boy, be his guidance, he ought to accept you, he likes you-"

"Much less since his father has lost favor and he blames Ebony for it."

"All the same reason to try. Ultimately there is only one thing to be done if we are to save him from Voldermort's wrath."

Snape raised his eyebrows at him. "Are you intending to let him kill you?"

"Certainly not. _You_ must kill me."

Ebony felt the breath knock out of her.

There was a long pause before Snape spoke. "Would you like me to do it now or would you like a few minutes to compose an epitaph?"

"Oh, not quite yet," said Dumbledore with a smile. "I daresay the moment will present itself in due course. Given what has happened tonight we can be sure it will happen within a year."

"If you don't mind dying why not let Draco do it?" he asked roughly.

"That boy's soul is not yet damaged. I would not have it ripped apart on my account."

"And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?"

"You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old friend avoid pain and humiliation," said Dumbledore. "I ask this one great favor of you, Severus, because death is coming to me surely. I would prefer a quick and painless death then for instance what Greyback will do to me or Bellatrix…"

Snape took a deep breath and gave a nod.

"Thank you, Severus," he sighed.

"What of Ebony?"

"What of her?"

He met his eyes. "When it comes down to this…what do I tell her…what will become of her when I am known as the man who killed Dumbledore? She's been through so much as it is."

"You will tell her nothing of this, Severus. Ebony cannot know for her own well being."

"How is that helping her?" he asked pained.

The Head master sighed. "I know it is hard for you to lie to her, but don't you think by telling her it would be twice as hard for her to carry, do you not think she would try to find a way to help you. Do you really want her deeper in the Dark Lord's clutches than she already is?"

Snape said nothing but still hung his head.

"If you love her as much as I believe you do, you understand why you cannot tell her. Ebony is a strong girl, she understands more than others and she's very insightful. She has friends who I am sure when it comes down to it will not falter from her side."

"You mean Murillo…"

"Yes, she is, I'm sure, one friend who will not waver from Ebony but stick with her I am positive. Just as I'm positive Jason Stark's loyalty to her won't falter for a second. She will not be alone."

Snape took a deep breath. "I do not agree with it…but I will help you."

The scenes faded again and she was still in the office but Snape was more distraught than ever as he sat bent over in the chair, hands threaded in his hair as he rested his head in his hands. The embodiment of a broken man. "My daughter, Dumbledore! My daughter!"

Dumbledore sat quietly behind his desk, "I am sorry, Severus…I never meant for Ebony to be put in this. I never thought Narcissa would use your love for her against you to make an Unbreakable Vow."

"She cornered me! Trapt me! And now Ebony's life is in danger if I do not follow up on her Vow."

"All the more reason you must kill me when the time comes and not hesitate. You have a Vow with me and now with her. If you do not value your own life then I know you value Ebony's and will not risk her well being."

"I already have," he glared at the Head Master in his fury. "I've risked her life by being her father. What was I thinking by taking her in? What was I possibly doing with a child?"

"Loving her the way only a father can, the way only a person can after feeling such a great loss in his life so many years ago. She gave you hope, Severus. She gave you your life back just as you gave her hers. You were both lost that day so many years ago…it was destined to be. You were destined to be her father…even you must notice that. She is _your_ daughter."

"She is Sirius Black's daughter."

"Only by blood, nothing more," said Dumbledore. "I do not doubt Ebony loved Sirius but her feelings for you run deeper than that blood tie. You raised her, you took care of her, you loved her despite the fact she was your foes daughter and no one but few knew she even existed…you loved her when no one else would and you were the last person anyone expected to do it. That alone showed me a change in you I had not thought to see, Severus. As for Ebony, she was old enough to know you were not her actual parent, to make the decision to merely live with you as a housemate if need be. But she took you as her father, an act of trust and love that can't be measured from the heart of a girl who's very genes say she should not be as caring as she is but as evil as her mother was. It was you, Severus, who showed her that way and what a destined pair it turned to be. Who better to show Ebony that being marked by the Dark Lord doesn't mean you are evil, but that you are more the greater for rebelling against it and choosing differently. You saved her, Severus, just as she saved you…I don't dare think of what would have happened had you not been her father."

A tear fell down his cheek and Ebony felt her heart break. She'd been so angry with him she never stopped to think how it all had affected him.

"I've put her life in danger," he said quietly and broken, a sound she never imagined hearing from someone as strong and well kept as her dad.

"Ebony is a free spirit. She does what she wants and feels is necessary despite what we may say. It is her doing not yours. Don't guilt yourself over the part she plays."

"The Vow…"

"You will save her from that fate, Severus…you will _always_ save her even if you think she won't understand."

Snape merely nodded and the scene turned into another, once again in the office of Dumbledore. Snape sat still in the chair while Dumbledore walked around talking. "Harry must not know, not until the last moment, not until it is necessary, otherwise how could he have the strength to do what must be done?"

"What must he do?" Snape asked.

"That is between Harry and me. Now listen closely, Severus. Chelly and Ebony have a part in this as well. Chelly has been taking lessons with Trelawny. You must let her follow you when the time approaches to my death. She must get a vision from you. It will set the rest in motion for what they must do."

"Which is?"

"They must leave here and go into part with the Death Eaters."

"No! I won't allow it," he shook his head sternly.

"Ebony will do as she pleases and you know it. She will do this in hopes of finding what happened to you. You and I both know she won't think you killed me out of spite, she's much too smart for that and far too loyal to you and Chelly is too curious and intelligent to believe the same as the others. She knows you too well…she will play both sides and no one will question them…because you will become Head Master here and Chelly will be known as Greyback's daughter. They will help the Death Eater's as much as they help the Order. I believe they will know exactly what to do and when to do it due to Chelly's visions and Ebony's instinct. She will be determined to get back to Hogwart's at some point before the battle."

"How can you be certain?"

He smiled at Snape warmly. "Because she loves you too much to not come home and she won't leave you behind. And Chelly has grown just as attached to you even if you haven't noticed."

"Murillo?"

"Yes, and you can't deny a fatherly instinct towards her as well. May not be as strong as Ebony's but it is there none the less."

"This is too dangerous for them."

"You know your girls, they'll help Harry at any cost. There is no stopping them…but they will not interrupt Harry either in his quest…though I'm sure if given the chance they will destroy the items as 

well…I think it will be safe to tell Harry of this though when Voldermort stops sending Nagini out on attacks but keeps her safe with him."

"Tell him what?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Tell him that on the night Voldermort tried to kill him, when Lily cast her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded on Voldermort and a fragment of Voldermort's soul was blasted apart from the whole and latched itself into the only living soul left in that building. Part of Lord Voldermort lives in Harry and it is what gives him the power to talk to snakes and a connection with Voldermort's mind that he has never understood. And while the fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldermort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldermort cannot die."

Ebony felt the burning in her lungs and reminded herself to breathe. Her vision blurred for a moment from the lack of air as it all made sense to her. Harry was the last Horcrux. He was a piece of Voldermort and the only way to destroy the Dark Lord was to destroy all the Horcruxes…to destroy Harry, the one person she always swore to protect. He had to die in order to save everyone.

"So the boy…must die?" Snape asked calmly though his eyes showed the worry he felt.

"And Voldermort himself must do it, Severus."

"I thought…" he paused. "I thought…all these years…we were protecting him for her. For Lily."

"I wondered if he suspected it himself…but if I know him he'll arrange it so when he sets out to do it will mean the end of Voldermort...and I'm certain Ebony will be there as well when it is time, her power will be revealed."

Snape looked horrified and Ebony felt like she'd been punched. "You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment? With my daughter there and her largely kept secret out in the open?"

"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?"

"Lately, only those whom I could not save and I'll be damned if I let Ebony become one of them," Snape stood up. "You have used me…"

"Meaning?"

"I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself and my daughter in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe as well as my daughter. Now you tell me you've been raising him as a pig for slaughter not to mention using Ebony for your-"

"This is touching, Severus," said Dumbledore seriously. "Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"

"For _him_?" shouted Snape. "_Expecto Patronum_."

From the tip of Snape's wand burst a silver doe and Ebony stared wide eyed. It was the same one she saw in her compass the night Harry followed it to the water pool. She had felt as comfortable watching it as Harry had going with it, trusting it even. And it was her father all along who showed Harry the way to the Gryffindor sword, not Lily. Dumbledore watched it fade away and turned to Snape and his eyes were full of tears.

"After all this time?"

"Always," said Snape softly.

The scene shifted again and she was in the chambers as Snape stood in the living room. It was dead silent and she could tell this was after Dumbledore's death and her departure to Chelly's house. It was too quiet to be any other time and her father looked too…depressed. He stood there, hands on the back of the couch staring at the fire with dead eyes. He turned slowly and went to her bedroom door, creaking it open and stepping inside. He sluggishly moved in, eyes scanning the remaining photos that were left behind.

Snape sat on her bed and hung his head down, his hair shielding his face. Ebony could only watch with a pained heart, unable to comfort him. He sat there, helpless and alone. He lifted his face up after a few minutes and tears fell from his eyes as he closed them. "Ebony…"

It dissolved into a different scene and Ebony was flying alongside her father on a broomstick through a clear dark night. He was accompanied by other masked Death Eaters and ahead was Lupin and a Harry she knew to be George…and a Death Eater was pointing his wand at George while another was aiming directly at Lupin's back. Ebony gasped wide eyed until her father pointed his wand. "_Sectumsempra_!"

But the spell intended for the Death Eater's hand missed and hit George, luckily, only in the ear instead of doing damage that could have been far worse. The shot had also caused the other Death Eater to miss aim on Lupin.

The sky spun and she was in the potions room her father used to use as his private study. He was bent over a table working painstakingly on a small platter in front of him. Snape finished the spell on the object in front of him and stood back up, looking it over. He picked up the small lens and Ebony immediately knew what it was before she even saw him smile and place it in a small box with a bow on it and a tag that merely read _Luis_. He had given Luis the contact lens for Christmas to help fix his vision and undo some of the damage Alecto had inflicted on him. She had suspected it all along but never knew until now it was him who had helped Luis. He had looked after her friends even while she wasn't there as best as he could.

She was back in Dumbledore's office that now served as her father's and was talking with Yaxley. "She made it clear I'm not needed around."

"Then you should follow Ebony's orders," Snape merely said.

"I don't follow her orders I follow the Dark Lord's."

"And she is following the Dark Lord's orders by staying at Grimmauld Place and reporting anything she and Chelly find to him."

He scrunched his face in disdain, "I don't trust that Murillo girl…

"Why is that?" he asked curiously.

"She doesn't seem right, her father is an animal after all and she has no real ties of loyalty."

Snape narrowed his eyes irately and leaned forward across his desk. "Murillo is trusted by the Dark Lord and by my daughter who has superior judgment in friends. Just because her father is a werewolf does not mean that she is out of control. She is her own person with her own choices to make and is far more intelligent than you and it does _not_, by any means, give you the right to call her an animal. As for her loyalties, she is loyal to my daughter and to me, those are ties enough."

Yaxley seemed shakened by the sudden coldness from Snape. "You speak on her behalf?"

He leaned back in his chair, the anger still present but his tone was softer and even Chelly would be amazed to hear this as well. "I've known Chelly for years…she's practically one of my own…of course I speak on her behalf."

And then she was in Grimmauld place in Sirius's old room as Snape kneeled on the floor looking at a letter. She bent over to see what it said and saw it was from Lily along with a photo of Lily laughing and baby Harry on a broom with James watching. She watched as her dad ripped the photo and kept the part of Lily laughing, tossing the other half to the floor. He stood to leave the room but paused as another photo caught his eye. He picked it up and removed it from the frame it was kept it, looking at it more closely. This time it was a picture of her that Sirius had kept. She was young in it, five at the most and grinning broadly to the camera, her black hair long and wavy in pigtails as she smiled with big blue eyes. Snape closed his eyes and hugged both photos to his chest leaving the room.

And Ebony found herself back in the chambers…in this time, in this moment. The visions done. She took a much needed deep breath and looked up into her Dad's face. It remained passive but, as always, she could read his eyes. She smiled through her tears. "Thank you…I needed to see that," she hugged him again, tighter than before. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Ebony," he said sincerely.

She closed her eyes and kept her head on his shoulder, afraid to let go for fear of losing him all over again. After everything she just saw she knew what she always suspected. That everything he had done was for the greater good. It was all to help Dumbledore and she couldn't help but to be a little angry with the old Head Master for what he had done to her father, what he had put him through by nearly tearing her family apart for his benefit. But he had been right though, Ebony had figured it all out. She had played her part. She had Chelly with her. She had protected Harry. She had found her way home to her father. And she was never going to lose him again.

A flash was seen even from behind her closed eyelids and she opened her tear stained eyes to see Chelly winding her witching camera. She glared at her and Chelly smiled weakly, "Kodak moment of the reuniting bond…you two just looked so…real."

Snape rubbed at the blinding spot in his eyesight. "Good to see you again too, Murillo."

She nodded her head. "Never thought I'd be happy to see you again either…and thanks."

He frowned. "For what?"

She shrugged her shoulders."Saving Oliver from those two crazies you have working for you…they'd have killed him if you hadn't stepped in…and for helping Luis…I'm probably not wrong in thinking you gave him the contact lens…or that Stark survived here so long because of you…and I'm probably not wrong in thinking Luna wasn't hurt because of your orders."

Snape said nothing only confirming her guesses.

"Thank you…really thank you," she said sincerely.

Snape took a breath and held his other arm out to Chelly, Ebony still tucked in a hug with his other arm. "Come here, Murillo."

She didn't need to be told twice and moved into his embrace, hugging Snape, fighting back her own tears. "I saw him…my dad…he came to see me…"

"I know," he said to her.

"He brought me roses with blood…and…God they smelled sweet, Snape."

"You're not him, Chelly," he told her, rubbing her shoulder. "You are not a killer. You are not a monster. Just because it is in your blood does not make you him."

"I feel like one…"

"You're not. Look at what you have accomplished so far…you have done nothing to go against who you want to be, who you are. You are a cunning ambitious young woman, and not the cold blooded murderer your father is…the only thing you inherited from him is your monstrous appetite that makes people at all you can eat buffets panic a bit."

She snorted and would have rebutted but she missed this too much to say anything against him.

"I've missed this," Ebony said with a smile and enjoyed the hug, putting her other arm around Chelly. "I never want to lose this again."

Snape moved his hand from Chelly's shoulder to grab Ebony's hand that was there. Just so happened to be her left hand that held her engagement ring. "Tell me this isn't what I think it is?"

"Uh oh," Chelly mumbled and backed up a bit but still stayed close by.

Ebony smiled nervously at her Dad. "It's a ring…"

"I know it's a ring…why is it on this hand, particularly this finger?"

"It was from George…" she bit her lower lip.

"I guessed as much…"

"He asked me to marry him and I said I would," she chuckled tensely.

Snape's eyes widened. "You're getting married!"

"Not until after all this is done. I told George I couldn't until then because I needed you to be there."

"And look on the bright side, Snape," Chelly added in. "You already took his ear off."

Snape rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Tell you what," Chelly said and patted his shoulder. "When this is done we all go to Disney World again and talk it out. You can threaten George again too, you took his ear off after threatening that forever so he'll think you're serious no matter what you say."

"Not a bad idea, Murillo," Snape nodded amused and Ebony shot her a look. "I think that may be the best idea."

"See, it's going good so far and its now my birthday," Chelly said and frowned suddenly, nearly dropping her camera as her necklace began to vibrate. She touched the Dumbledore's Army sign and a vision ran through. They were all in the Room of Requirement. Everyone was there from George to Fred to Oliver and Luis to even Harry, Ron and Hermione. All there and assembled for the big fight…it was going to happen and it was happening very soon. Her vision cleared and she looked at Ebony.

"It's starting. They're assembling Dumbledore's Army now. I'm being called…crap and its my birthday."

Ebony's eyes widened and she clutched tighter to her dad's arm. "Tonight? The battle is starting tonight?"

Chelly nodded. "I have to go. I have to be there."

"Go," Ebony nodded. "I'll stay here."

"No," Snape shook his head. "Go with Chelly."

She turned her blue worried eyes to him. "No, I won't leave you again."

He shook his head. "You'll be safer with them. I still have a part to play. It's your turn to switch sides."

"But Dad-."

"You go with them and do what you do best, fight for what you believe in. Don't worry about me," he said and hugged her one more time. "You're my harbor, as long as you are safe they can't hurt me."

He pulled away from her and nudged her to go with Chelly. She was skeptical, her eyes on him eve as Chelly grabbed her elbow. "Dad…"

"Go Ebony," he smiled weakly. "After this is over, everything will be okay."

"We'll all be a family again?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, all of us," he gestured at Chelly including her and it made the Ravenclaw pause to be part of the family. "Now go, both of you. Protect Potter and your friends, but keep yourselves safe…please."

Ebony walked out the door but paused with her hand on the handle and looked back at Snape. "Dad…" he looked at her and she bit her lip wanting to save I love you again but changed her mind last minute with a small smile. "Be careful…"

He nodded his head and waved her off and Ebony followed Chelly down the corridor and up the staircase, fighting the urge to go back and say the words on her mind and hug him again. But she could always tell him later after the battle was over and the dust had cleared and the sun had risen…after it was over…there was always later…or so she thought.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I don;t own any of JK' characters at all. I only own Ebony, Chelly, Luis, and Stark_

* * *

**CH 17**

"Ready for this?" Chelly asked Ebony with a deep breath, pausing at the door that had revealed itself.

She nodded her head, ready as she'd ever be though she had rather have been with her father than face this. After facing Voldermort though, this wasn't nearly as bad, "Had to come to this sooner or later…we'd have to explain ourselves."

"Might get ugly."

"Like we can't take them on," she snorted.

"You are _such_ a Slytherin," she chuckled.

Ebony touched the pendant around her neck. "How did you ever guess that?"

"Lucky, I suppose…hope it sticks with me in here," with that said Chelly opened the door and they walked in, letting it seal behind them.

Everyone in the room froze at that sight of them and judging by 92 of the looks most thought they were on the other side with the Death Eater's seeing as how most were icy glares or frightened looks. It was completely silent in the room.

"Awkward," Chelly mumbled to Ebony who was staring to the right, at Harry. She tugged Chelly's sleeve to follow her. Students cleared a path as she made her way to Harry never breaking eye contact as much as it broke her heart to know he had to die to save everyone and didn't know it yet.

"Harry…" she merely said his name, pausing a few feet away from him.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked and it was anything but welcoming.

"We're here to help?"

"Help who?" Ron asked. "The Death Eater's. Help both your fathers."

Chelly glared and took a step forward but Ebony put her arm out, stopping her. "We're not here for the Death Eater's, we're here to help Hogwart's."

"Sure they are," someone shouted sarcastically in the crowd.

"You need our help," Chelly said.

"They'll get us killed, turn us in," another shouted and it started a commotion of agreement.

Harry looked at Ebony and Chelly and shook his head. "You're not wanted here, you can go."

"If they go, we go!" a familiar voice shouted and Luis, George, and Oliver pushed their way out the crowd to stand next to Ebony and Chelly.

Luis folded his arms over his black track jacket. "You need their help. They know what's going on more than we do and they have more experience than most of us."

"They work for the Death Eater's," a Hufflepuff said.

"Says who?" Oliver challenged.

"Who their fathers are says it enough," Ron snorted."Severus Snape and Fenrir Greyback."

Chelly didn't flinch as voices started whispering around the room in horror. She was about to speak when Luis interrupted on her behalf. "So what? Her Dad is a werewolf? Big deal. Does it make her evil? No. Does it make her a Death Eater? No. When has Chelly or Ebony for that matter ever betrayed this school? Them, not their parents. One of you tell me now."

No one volunteered to answer. "That's what I thought. They were trusted by Dumbledore and he wouldn't have trusted someone who was disloyal. They've done nothing but follow Dumbledore's orders and if anyone is faithful to the Order and the DA it would be them. They do the most dangerous tasks, they play both sides and risk their lives for us and you all treat them like they're the bad guys, what's that say about you? I trust them. So do George and Oliver. Who else will trust them?"

Luna pushed her way through and stood by them along with Neville and Fred. Seamus, Dean, and Colin followed suit then Cho and Ginny along with more than half of the group in the room. Luis nodded and glanced at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "If you don't trust them then find yourselves a new Army and new friends."

"I am with them as well as the few I brought with me," a voice said right behind Luis and he turned with wide eyes to see Viktor Krum standing right behind him in a dark brown long sleeved shirt with a red logo that must have been the Durmstrang symbol on the front of it and dark blue jeans complete with combat boots looking like he walked out of Luis's dream. Viktor's dark eyes moved to his and Luis felt himself freeze up. "You spoke well, like a leader." Luis would have been able to hold it all together had Viktor not put his hand on Luis's shoulder which caused the Ravenclaw to giggle.

Chelly stepped up next to him and moved him away before he could embarrass himself further. After such a great speech she wasn't surprised Viktor reduced him to giggles. She smiled at Viktor. "It's the thought of battle, leaves him all excited."

"I understand…you are Luis, right?" he asked past Chelly to the blushing Ravenclaw.

"Uh…uh…I…the…uh…hi," he babbled.

"You were at the wedding, I remember you…what happened to your face?" he asked and moved past Chelly to Luis and turned Luis's face to the side to see the scars.

"I uh…I…umm…Death Eater…yea, a Death Eater scratched me," he managed to put together, blushing furiously.

"And your eye, it is blind?" he asked.

"Umm…uhh…it-it used to be…I can see now…only because of my contact…but nothing could be…uhh…be done for the scars," he said, at least it was getting easier to talk to the guy.

He let go of Luis's jaws. "I think the scars give you character. They make you look tough."

Luis giggled then cleared his throat. He turned his head to Oliver, "What would a tough guy say?...wait why am I asking you?" He turned away from the frowning Oliver and looked at George. "What do I say to that?"

George rolled his eyes. "Just nod your head and grunt."

Luis nodded his head and grunted, turning back to Krum who just smiled and shook his head in amusement. He slapped Luis on the back playfully which nearly sent him sliding to the floor and would definitely leave a bruise he'd treasure tomorrow. "You are funny."

"Thanks," he coughed, winded.

Ebony shook her head in amusement as crowds started chattering amongst themselves and stepped closer to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, tugging Chelly's shirt to follow her. Harry barely met her eyes. "I'm sorry if you felt we lied to you…we never meant to hurt you."

"We were doing what we were told," Chelly added on.

"Betraying us?" Ron asked.

"No, playing the part," Ebony answered. "We were playing the part of Death Eater's so they would trust us."

"And now you want us to trust you?" Ron asked again.

Ebony took a deep breath dually noting Harry said nothing at all. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because we did everything in the interest of Hogwart's. We never did anything in the favor of them as much as you'd like to think we did."

"Then where were you?" Hermione questioned heatedly.

"Following our own orders from Dumbledore just as you were," Chelly hissed angrily, stepping around Ebony to get in the other's face. "Do you think you're so special that you're the only ones who get missions? You forget Dumbledore gave Ebony and me items too from his will. Did you really think with that done he wouldn't have had something planned for us?"

"Like what?" Ron asked, arms folded over his chest.

She set her angry eyes on Ron. "Part of my instructions were to stay with Ebony and help her, which is more than I can say for you, Ron, since you abandoned Harry and Hermione for a few months."

He paled, his ego faltering. "How-how'd you know about that?"

Ebony answered that one, "We were told to keep an eye on you three as part of our mission…to make sure you stayed safe."

"And we risked our asses doing it, let me tell you," Chelly said with a shake of her head.

Harry frowned. "The Manor…it was you two."

Ebony nodded slightly.

"How did you know?"

Chelly bit her lower lip and looked at Ebony. She kept her face passive but answered anyway. "My compass…I found out about it. It's how I kept an eye on you along with Chelly's visions. We know everything, Harry…including the Horcruxes…"

His eyes widened behind his glasses. "You know about those?"

Chelly snorted. "We knew before you did."

"Dumbledore told us before he told you and instructed us not to interfere while you destroyed them."

"Did he tell you what they were?"

Ebony swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew one was the hat from Rowena Ravenclaw, but the one that concerned her the most was the one standing before her. Harry was a Horcrux and Harry had to die by Voldermort's hand to kill him. She shook her head unable to speak and noticed everyone was looking at her again.

"We're not evil and we're not Death Eater's," Ebony said with a shake of her head. "I know what you all think of me because my father is Severus Snape, the man who killed Dumbledore. Believe me, I heard the whispers behind my back and the rumors that floated around. It was part of the reason I left here. I didn't want to hear it and I didn't want to defend myself but I'm here doing it now. I'm not here to argue in defense of my Dad and what he did. It'd be a waste of breath and time against you all, you can believe what you will and know where I have always stood on that. But I am here to help defend Hogwart's as I always have. It's my home and my friends live here and I'll be damned if I don't fight like hell to save the ones I love."

Harry nodded his head and rubbed at his forehead. Voldermort was close, "You heard her…Now I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go look at that statue, to at least see what it looks like."

"I'll-." Cho started to say but Chelly cut in.

"I'll take you," Chelly interrupted noticing Ginny's narrowed eyes on Cho. She wanted to kill her at the mere suggestion of going with Harry. "I know the way to Ravenclaw Common Room."

Harry nodded his approval and pulled out his cloak as they headed out the tunnel exit of the room. "Get under here," he told Chelly.

She shook her head, "No need." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Death Eater necklace, clasping it back onto her neck. "They won't question me, Harry. You forget that."

She gestured for him to follow and they passed a few other Death Eater's in the area until they reached a spiral staircase. "This way," she whispered under her breath and they climbed the dizzying narrow stairway that was different from the time they had dropped Luis off at the Common room, apparently there was more than one way in. At last they reached a door that had no handle or keyhole just a golden knocker of an eagle face. Chelly put her hand in front of it and its eyes opened, the door pushing open.

"You don't have a password?" Harry asked.

"No, it usually asks you a question, but I'm a graduate student. It recognizes my ring."

They walked into the common room of Ravenclaw. Graceful windows arched the walls, which had huge billowy curtains of blue and silver. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars which echoed the midnight blue carpet. In a niche opposite the bookshelves stood the statue. Harry recognized her and removed the cloak. He and Chelly stood in front of the statue and she pointed at the hat. "So it looks like that, I take it."

"So that's what we need to get."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Chelly said the words on the statue.

"Which makes you pretty dim, huh?" a cackling voice said behind them and Chelly's eyes widened. They spun around to see Amycus standing there. He was the one that tortured Oliver. "I knew you couldn't be trusted, Chelly? After all why should he-."

"STUPEFY!" she yelled and Amycus went flying across the room into the large book case that toppled on top of him.

Harry stared in shock at Chelly who was breathing heavily. Students filled the room to see what had awakened them and found Amycus unconscious under the rubble. "Wow…"

"He hurt Oliver…he had it coming…and I hate monologues…let's go…"

They didn't even reach as far as the door when they heard pounding on it from Alecto. "Amycus! Open the bloody door! ANSWER ME!"

"Shit," Chelly mumbled. "Harry hide."

Harry disappeared under his cloak and Chelly moved closer to the bookcase, Amycus was definitely out of it for awhile.

Chelly heard McGonagall's voice behind the door. "May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?"

"Trying to get this damned door to open!"

"Isn't your brother in there?" McGonagall asked. "Can't you just have him open the door and stop waking up the whole castle?"

"He ain't answering. Just open the damn door!"

She heard Amycus groan and smashed her fist against his face, knocking him back out.

"Certainly," McGonagall said and a moment later it swung open. Her eyes widened when she saw Chelly kneeling next to the bookcase. "Murillo! What are you doing here?"

"I was called back earlier. Ebony's here too."

"They gone and killed him!" Alecto shrieked kneeling next to her brother.

"He's only stunned," McGonagall said, though Chelly saw her take note of the mark against his face and glanced at her. She gave the professor a wink. "He'll be fine."

"No, he bloody won't. Dark Lord will kill him for calling him. He thinks we got Potter," Alecto said.

"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked sharply.

"He told us Potter might try and get into Ravenclaw Tower and to send for him if we caught him…I'll blame it on the brats, that's what I'll do. They'll spare us and hurt them."

"I will not permit him to come here," McGonagall said. "Or for you to hurt these children."

Alecto stepped closer to the Professor. "You'll permit it and you'll back me up. Your time is up here. It's us in charge. Remember that or you'll pay the price." Then she spat in her face.

Harry dropped his cloak the same moment Chelly lifted her wand, but neither of them got a spell off. It was Luis who beat them to it, "_Sectumsempra_!" he shouted and Alecto turned into it. Blood sprayed from her face, in scratches that went straight across the whole of her face. She cried out, dropping her wand and Luis growled off another curse, his eye dead set on her, "_Crucio_!" She was lifted off her feet, withering in pain and then with a crunch of shattering glass broke through the cabinet and crumbled to the floor next to her brother unconscious, her face bleeding to the floor.

McGonagall seemed overloaded as she looked from Luis to Chelly to Harry. "Oh – oh my goodness! Luis, you shouldn't have done – and Chelly you were going to…Harry! What? How? Luis, that was foolish!"

He shrugged. "She had it coming. She's the one who hurt my face…she had it coming."

"Back to important matters," Chelly snapped her fingers. "Voldermort's coming and long story short, Professor, we've all been working on Dumbedore's orders. He had me and Ebony pretend to be on the Death Eater's side and to keep Harry safe as we helped him find Horcruxes. We have to finish it because if we destroy them all then Voldermort can die. First things first, we need to find Rowena's Diadem."

McGonagall nodded. "We will hold off the Death Eater's while you finish this then. I must go alert the other Heads of Houses. You best put your cloak back on Potter. Chelly, Luis, stay close."

"Don't worry about me," Chelly said with a shrug and started down the staircase with Harry.

They started down the long hall at the end of the staircase and Chelly froze sensing they weren't alone in the dark hall. Neither did McGonagall as she spun around with her wand out. "Who's there."

"Just I," Snape's voice came from the darkness and Chelly relaxed but noticed no one else did. She forgot they didn't know what she did. Even Luis was a bit tense in his body language.

"Where are the Carrows?" he asked.

"Where you told them to be I suppose," McGonagall said.

"I was under the impression," he said as he stepped closer, not too far from Chelly. "That they caught an intruder."

"How would you know that?" Luis asked curiously.

Snape made a slight flexing movement in his left arm where his Dark Mark was branded and Chelly briefly wondered if Ebony's Death Royalty Mark had flared as well.

"Oh, but naturally," McGonagall said. "You Death Eaters have your own means of private communication."

"I did not know you were on night patrol tonight?" he said.

"You have some objection?"

"I wonder what could have brought you out of bed at this hour?" he asked. "And Laguna's as well."

"You don't question, Miss Murillo's whereabouts?"

"Not necessary," he said. "I sent her and Ebony out to patrol the halls."

"I thought I heard a disturbance. It brought Luis out of his room as well," she said.

"Really? But all seems calm, doesn't it, Chelly?" Snape asked and put a hand on her shoulder.

She opened her mouth to answer when a vision flooded her. She was in the Shrieking Shack. Voldermort was there. She could hear the battle outside. She saw Nagini strike up and bite someone, a body on the floor.

The vision ended and she was catching the end of a conversation, Snape no longer standing near her. She turned to see McGonagall slash her wand at Snape and him Shield it off and jump out the window. Her eyes widened and she hurried to look out, watching Snape fly off on the back of a giant bird. She was in shock not for the reasons everyone else was. She was aware there were people coming around in the hall but all she could see was the dark sky Snape had disappeared into.

"Come on, Chelly," Harry said and grabbed her arm, pulling her down the hall as Minerva barked off orders to prepare for the battle to come.

"We have to get back to the DA," Luis told her in her numbness. She only nodded as they headed back to the Room of Requirement. She was only thinking of Snape. Ebony's father was gone again. She now had to go back to her best friend and tell her that her father was gone, escaping into the night…and that she had foreseen his death.


	14. Chapter 14

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Disclaimer: I own the same four and thank you for the wonderful reviews!! Lyrics are from We Can Be Heroes by the Wallflowers

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_We can beat them  
For ever and ever  
Oh we can be Heroes  
Just for one day_

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**CH18**

As they entered the room, Harry removed his cloak and nearly slipped down a few stairs in shock. If Chelly and Luis hadn't grabbed his arms, he would fell. The room was packed more than before. Kingsley and Lupin were there looking up at him as were Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry, what's happening?" asked Lupin, meeting him at the foot of the stairs.

"Voldermort is on his way. They're barricading the school – Snape's run for it?"

That caused Ebony to push her way in front of Lupin past George. "What do you mean?"

"He ran, out the window, towards the forest," Harry explained and Ebony's face paled. She looked at Chelly, hoping she'd say it was all a lie but she shook her head slowly. Her father was gone again. Her fist clenched, if it was a fight Voldermort wanted it was a fight he was going to get because she wasn't about to give her father up without one, not after coming all this way.

"Why are you here?" Chelly asked Lupin.

Fred answered that one, "We sent messages out to everyone, including the Order."

"So what first, Harry?" George asked.

"They're evacuating the younger kids," Harry declared. "Everyone is meeting in the Great Hall to organize. We're fighting."

A roar surged through the room and everyone ran up the stairs and out the door. Chelly moved Luna towards Oliver. "Go with Oliver, Luna."

"What about you?" Luis asked skeptically at the few who remained in the room, the majority had headed to the hall.

"I'm sticking with Ebony meaning we're sticking with Harry," she said.

"I'm staying with you," Oliver told her.

She shook her head. "No, they need you out there. I have a job to finish for Dumbledore."

He nodded his head, still uneasy at leaving her. "Be careful."

"Hold on. Where's Krum?" Luis asked, eyes darting around the room.

"He left to the hall," Ebony told him.

"Ohh," he pouted. "I wanted to follow his sexy butt."

Ebony chuckled. "I bet you did, but I think you're supposed to watch his _back_."

Luis was about to answer back when Harry interrupted.

"Wait!" Harry surveyed the remaining people for a moment. "Where's Ron and Hermione?"

Luis looked around, not seeing them and Oliver frowned. "I thought they were here?"

"They left shortly after you did, Harry," Luna said.

"Where to?" Ebony asked.

She shrugged. "They didn't say. They only said they figured something out."

Another voice spoke behind Ebony, joining the conversation, one she recognized and had missed. "I saw them walking down the hall in a hurry as I was coming in."

She turned around to see Stark. He looked the same, time hadn't worn him at all neither had the stress of the situations, though his dark eyes seemed dead set on what needed to be done. He was wearing his usual casual clothes, dark blue jeans, Timberand boots, and a long sleeved deep green shirt. His dark hair was slicked back and she knew it'd be hanging over his eyes before the dawn came.

"Stark," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was called and I work here still…though I was forced to take a temporary vacation for awhile in hiding," he shrugged. "They wouldn't leave me out of this one. Besides, I can't let you and Chelly have all the fun, you probably had more fun than I did."

"Not saying we did, not saying we didn't," Chelly shrugged.

"Not saying it wasn't uneventful here either here this year," he sighed.

"Heard you got flung into a wall?" Ebony said.

"Along with many other aches and pains," he mumbled.

"Where could they have gone?" Harry pondered out loud.

"Right here," they said breathless as they came back into the room, carrying a bunch of curved objects in their arms, each had a broomstick under their arm.

"Where the hell have you been?" Harry asked.

"Chamber of Secrets," Ron said.

George's eyes widened. "What?"

"It was all Ron's idea," Hermione said breathlessly. "Brilliant too. There we were, after you left, and I was thinking of a way to get rid of the Hufflepuff cup. And Ron said why not the Basilisk. I mean you killed it years ago."

"Wait," Stark held up a hand and looked at Harry. "You killed a Basilisk?"

"Yeah, when he was twelve," George nodded.

"You were in New York that year," Ebony told him.

He whistled. "Impressive."

"Basilisk?" Oliver repeated.

"The nasty snake that froze me," Chelly reminded him.

"Ohh right," he nodded.

They're eyes dropped to the objects in their hands. They were Basilisk fangs. "But how did you get in there?" Harry asked. "You need to speak Parsel Tongue."

"He did," Hermione said. "Show him, Ron!"

Ron made a horrible strangled hissing noise that had most rubbing at their ear. "It's what you did to open the locket. I had to go at it a few times, but I finally got it."

"He was amazing!" Hermione gushed, "Just amazing!"

Chelly raised her eyebrows at Ebony and bit her lower lip. It was Ebony's turn to elbow her. She knew what was on her friends mind.

"And we're another Horcrux down," Ron nodded. "Hermione stabbed it."

"Genius!" Harry smiled and took the busted cup from Ron.

"Wait! You know about the Horcruxes?" Stark asked in bewilderment.

"Yes, Dumbledore asked me to destroy them."

He shook his head in disbelief. "How many have you gotten?"

"Umm…this leaves three," Harry said.

There was a scuffling noise and a few clumps and everyone turned to see Percy coming out of the tunnel. "Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, I – I …"

He trailed off as he saw his entire family was standing in the room. There was a long pause and Ebony cleared her throat turning to Lupin. "So how is Teddy?"

"Yeah, how is your boy?" Stark followed on her word and turned to the other Professor. Chelly, Oliver, Luis, and Luna crowded around while Hermione inspected a fang she held, discussing it with Harry as if it were great importance.

"I – of yes – he's fine," Lupin said. "He's with Tonk's and her mother.

Percy and the other Weasley's were staring at one another.

"Here! I got a picture!" Lupin said loudly.

"Ohh good," Chelly said, "I love pictures!"

He pulled the picture from his jacket to show them the tiny baby with the bright blue hair.

"Well isn't he adorable," Stark admired.

"Love his hair!" Luis put in.

"I WAS A FOOL!" Percy said so loudly they all jumped and Lupin nearly dropped the picture. "I was an idiot, a prat, a – a."

"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power hungry-moron," said Fred.

"Yes, I was," he nodded.

Stark leaned over to Ebony and Chelly. "I take it this was a long time coming?"

"Yes," everyone around him answered and he nodded his head.

"Okay then," George nodded to Percy clapping him on the back. "What made you come to your senses?"

"It's been coming on for awhile," said Percy, mopping at his eyes. "But I had to find a way out and it's not easy at the Ministry. I just got tipped off ten minutes ago by Aberforth that Hogwart's was going to make a fight and here I am."

"Well," George said with a grin. "Let's not keep them waiting. Let's go up there and fight!"

Ebony grabbed his arm as he tried to make his way out and down the hall with Percy and Fred and Bill. "Be careful, please."

"Of course, love," he gave her a quick kiss. "Don't forget, when this is done you're marrying me."

She grimaced. "Don't remind me."

Oliver paused in front of Chelly. "Stay safe as much as you can."

"Give 'em hell and watch out for Luna," she told him and kissed him as well.

"I will. I promise. See you when this is done."

With that he was gone, Lupin following them out with the other Weasley's and disappearing around the hall. They could hear commotions coming from down that way.

"We have to get that Diadem," Harry said as he stared down the opposite way.

Chelly nodded her head. "I'm with you guys."

"Ebony, where are you going in all this?" Stark asked her, glancing down the other hall that led to the grand entrance.

"I have to stay with Harry, help him find the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw."

Another explosion sounded in the distance. He nodded turning towards the sound. "Okay, I'd rather you didn't but you were always stubborn and it's better than being out there. Just be careful, all right. Your father will kill me if I let anything happen to you."

She nodded. "I wouldn't do anything you wouldn't do."

He winced, "That's not comforting. Just stay out of trouble."

"No promises," she shrugged.

He shook his head and hurried down the hall moving past her and Luis. Luis's head followed, tilting slightly to the right and he smiled. Chelly noticed and smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Luis asked, holding his head.

"Looking at him, you have a crush on Krum."

He shrugged and rubbed at the spot. "So? Doesn't mean I can't look."

"Well, you don't need to, and we got more important things to think about then Professor Starks nice firm tight ass."

Ebony and Luis exchanged a glance and Chelly held up a hand. "Not a word to Oliver."

"My lips are sealed and with that I better hurry to the Hall to find Luna and Oliver," he said and twisted his watch to LL. He disappeared out of thin air and they both knew he'd travelled to where Luna was.

Ebony turned to Harry, "Where to?"

Right as she said it dust fell from the ceiling and they heard a scream in the distance.

"I know what it looks like and where it is. He hid it the same place I hid my potions book. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."

As the walls trembled again, Harry led the four back through the concealed entrance and down the staircase to another empty corridor. "Everyone should be safely out by now who isn't fighting," Hermione said.

"We forgot someone though?" Ron said.

"Who?" Hermione questioned.

"The house elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen won't they?" he asked. "We should get them out. Don't want any more Dobby's, do we? We can't order them to die for us."

There was a clatter of basilisk fangs that fell from Hermione's arms. She ran at Ron and flung her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth.

"It's about damn time!" Chelly whooped with a grin as the two kissed. "I've been waiting for this for _years_."

"Is this really the moment?" Harry asked weakly. When nothing happened except Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice. "Oiy! There's a war going on."

The two finally broke apart, their arms still around each other.

"You think you can just hold it until we've got the diadem?" Ebony asked with a smile.

"Yeah – right – sorry," he nodded and cleared his throat.

They continued down the hall until a door materialized out of nowhere. The sounds of battle stopped the moment they crossed in. They were in a place the size of a cathedral with the appearance of a city, its towering walls built to hide objects.

"Ohh yeah," Chelly said sarcastically. "This should be _real_ easy."

"We'll split up. Chelly, you go with Ron and Hermione. Ebony, you stay with me," Harry said and they each moved down separate aisles, looking around the shelves.

"I don't see anything that looks like a tiara and a wig," Ebony said and shuffled through items.

"It's near here somewhere," Harry said and the two moved deeper into the labyrinth and Harry stopped suddenly, his hand on Ebony's shoulder as he pointed to the top of a cabinet straight ahead. There it was, the dusty old wig with a discolored tiara. "There it is."

"Hold it, Potter!" a voice shouted behind them.

They both turned around to see Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle standing there, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointed at them.

"How come you three aren't with Voldermort?" Ebony asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, Ebony," Draco sneered. "I knew you were a traitor all along."

She tisked. "Isn't it sad that I was a spy yet I still managed to do way better than you, an actual devoter. How pathetic is that."

He growled at her, "We're going to be rewarded for handing you in to him."

"How sad? You'd actually turn in family," said Ebony with a fake pout. "No surprise considering my family history."

That caused Draco to pause. "What do you mean?"

"Ohh! That's right, you never knew! See Draco, we're cousins. You're mother is my cousin…well she's my Dad's cousin."

"We're not related to Snape."

"No, see. Snape is my adopted father. I mean, he is my dad is all meaning of the word…but I was born to Calandra Vebha and Sirius Black…your cousin, which makes us cousins…small world, huh?"

Harry joined in. "Wow, Draco. To think, you've been trying to get with your cousin all these years."

Draco's hand was shaking. "_Descendo_!"

They both ducked as the spell hit the cabinet behind them, sending the tiara and wig scattering amongst the other objects.

"Ebony! Harry!" they heard Ron shout as they scrambled back to their feet. "Are you guys okay?"

Harry ran towards the tiara and Crabbe pointed his wand, "Oh, no you don't, Potter. _Crucio_!" The light missed Harry by inches and Draco smacked Crabbe's arm.

"Don't kill him you moron. The Dark Lord wants him alive."

"I wasn't going to kill him. The Dark Lord wants him dead anyway," he shrugged.

Hermione had run around the corner and sent a stunning spell straight at them. Malfoy pulled Crabbe out of the way and shot his own spells towards Hermione. Ebony pointed her hand out, diamonds glowing red, "_Expelliarmus_."

Goyle's wand shot from his hand into a clutter of objects and he foolishly moved for it and right into Hermione's second stunning spell. Harry stared around the clutter near them. "It's here somewhere."

"I have an idea," Chelly said and rolled up her sleeves. "You said it has to be destroyed by something special right?"

"Yeah…why?" Harry asked.

"I got just the thing," Chelly grinned and pointed her wand at the clutter of stuff "_Demona firiora_!"

A large burst of flames shot from her wand, burning everything in front of them in a blaze. Chelly's smile faltered though as the fire began to take on a life of it's own, encasing everything.

"Uhh," Ron mumbled and backed up. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Chelly shrugged. "I- uh – don't know…I've never used this spell before…"

"You never used it!" Hermione shrieked and backed up, grabbing Ron's arm as the fire grew.

"No," she shook her head. "I just knew the spell. Read it at Grimmauld's place in Ebony's mum's spell book."

"One of my mother's spells!" Ebony said, feeling the heat from the fire, it was inching closer. It had already circled half the room. "She was evil, Chell!"

"I know that's why I knew it would work…just not this well."

"_Aguamenti_!" Harry said, but the jet of water had no effect and evaporated in mid air.

"Shit," Chelly mumbled.

"RUN!" Harry shouted. They hurried down the aisle, the fire right behind them. As they turned the corner the flames chased them as if they were alive, intent on killing them. Now the flames were mutating, turning into fiery beasts and serpents that were hungry. Hermione tripped and Ebony stopped, helping her up as the flames grew closer.

"Come on," she pulled her hand up and darted down another aisle with the Gryffindor girl, she separated from the other three. They came to a skidding halt, reaching a dead end as they came face to face with a wall and the fire surrounding them.

"Not good," Ebony said with a shake of her head.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Hermione repeated over and over as she and Ebony were trapped, surrounded by the fire that was quickly closing in and no spell could stop it.

This was how she was going to die. By a demon fire created by her best friend. Not the best way to go out, especially since she'd never get to see her father again. This had to be the worst spot she'd ever gotten herself into and this time, there was no way to escape. Her luck had run out.

"EBONY!" a voice yelled and she looked up. Stark was heading towards them on a broom. He held his hand out as he approached them.

"Hermione, grab onto me," she said and felt the girl's arms wrap around her as she held her arm out. Stark grabbed her arm and yanked her up, swinging her and Hermione on to the broom. Ebony wrapped her arms around Stark's waist and glanced past Hermione to see the fire consuming the wall they were just at.

"What part of be careful didn't you get?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"The careful part," she relied back and glanced down doing a double take. "Stark, go down a bit," she ordered and gestured towards Draco cowering in a corner as the fire closed in around him. She couldn't leave him to die, not by this, not this way.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"I got to get Draco," she told her. "Stark, go down that way."

"Ebony! If we die for them I'll kill you!" Hermione shrieked as Stark pulled the broom down and she bent down, using one hand to hold onto the broom as the other reached down and grabbed the back of Draco's robes just before the fire could reach him. He was heavy and she grimaced from the pain of holding onto him as they reached the doors that were slowly closing.

"Hang on!" Stark warned and went faster towards the swinging doors. They cleared it just as the doors swung shut and disappeared, taking the fire with it. Ebony let go of Draco, dumping him to the floor as they landed, unlike Harry and Ron who had collided with the wall. Chelly seemed pretty proud of landing and not crashing. "That was fun."

Hermione fell off the broom and practically hugged the floor. Ron hurried over to her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head. "I hate flying."

"Better than burning to death," said Stark.

"How did you know we'd be in there?" Ebony asked him.

"When I noticed you five were heading that way I figured you were looking for the diadem. I had seen it once when I was a kid here long time back and figured it hadn't moved from the spot. By the time I got in there, there was a fire going so I grabbed a broom and tried to see if I could find anyone. Good thing I did to, you and Granger here would be ashes."

"Crabbe," choked Malfoy from where he sat, back against the wall, Goyle unconscious a few feet from him. "C-Crabbe…"

"He's dead," Harry shook his head.

"And we only have two Horcruxes left," Chelly beamed. "We have the snake that we know of."

"Yeah and if we can just get the snake -," Hermione was cut off as the corridor was filled with sounds of fighting and blasts. They all turned, hearts dropping. Death Eater's had breached Hogwart's. Fred, Percy, and Luis had just backed into view, the three of them battling masked Death Eater's. The six ran forward to help them out.

Ebony knocked a Death Eater who was trying to climb up the wall into the corridor with a stunning spell and Stark Criucioed another off the side. Luis threw a clouding spell down near the wall, sending the two who had reached the top spiraling down to the floor.

Jets of light flew in every direction and the man dueling Percy lost his mask.

"Hello, Minister!" Percy bellowed, as it was Thicknesse who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes unable to breathe. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"

"You're joking, Perce," shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed. Fred looked at Percy with glee. "You are actually_ joking_! I don't think I've heard a joke from you since you were-."

The air exploded around the group and Ebony was pushed back, seeing blurs of her friends as the wall seemed to collapse and the corridor shifted, breaking down and crumbling around them. Ebony wrapped her arms around her head as she was falling through the air. She could hear screams and yells from her friends and finally the flying stopped and she landed on something soft, feeling something land on her as well.

She coughed and pushed herself up, blinking through the settling dust and cold air. The wall was gone. She heard cackling from the ground area that sounded like Bellatrix. She had blown the wall. She wiped at her cheek, feeling the blood from a cut and sat up. Harry was sitting up, off her legs he had landed on. "Are you okay?"

He nodded his head, a cut bleeding on his jaw. "You?"

She nodded and turned to see who she had landed on. Luis was sitting up, rubbing the back of his head. "That hurt…"

"You'll live," she said and saw Stark and Chelly getting to their feet a few feet away from her. She stood up and opened her mouth to speak but heard a piercing cry. "No – no – no! FRED! NO! FRED!"

She turned to see Percy shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling besides him. Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched on his face. Stark hurried to the side, hair falling in front of his eyes and checked on the fallen Weasley. He turned to look at the others and shook his head. "There's nothing you can do for him…his neck is broken…"

He stood back up barely missing a spell that shot just above his head. "Get down!" he shouted as more spells shot around them.

"Oh shit," Luis said eyes wide as they both saw the huge spider climbing in through the large hole. He and Chelly both shot spells at it, sending it twitching to the ground.

"It brought friends!" Harry warned as he saw out the hole.

"You gotta go! Now!" Stark warned them. "Get the last Horcruxes go!"

Harry nodded and grabbed Ebony's arm, shuffling Ron and Hermione as he went. Ebony reached for Chelly but she shook her head. "I'm staying with Luis. I need to find Oliver…the snake is at the Shrieking Shack…and so is your dad, Eb. Go!"

Ebony nodded and hurried down the corridor with Harry, Hermione, and a broken Ron.

"Ebony, where are you going?" Harry asked.

"The snake is in the Shrieking Shack and so is Voldermort," she told him. "We have to hurry." She left out the part about her dad being there as well. All she had to do was kill the snake and get her father and this nightmare would all be over. She could go back to the life she had and this would all just be a bad dream.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: The deaths continue…will the four I own survive?...lyrics from Guns n Roses Knockin on Heavens Door_

_Note: Thank you for the reviews Rock Royalty_

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_Knock Knock Knockin' on heavens door..._

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**CH 19 - TWO**

Chelly dodged to the right as another bolt shot past her head. Luis scrambled her way after jinxing another spider and the group managed to cross into the main hall, away from the broken wall and all the chaos that was starting to flow in from outside. Stark was all but carrying Percy down the hall, dragging him by his arm as they turned a corner, in safety for now. She could hear him mumbling under his breath, "We need a safe place. We need a safe place."

It took her a moment to realize he was trying to find the Room of Requirement. She wondered if it would still be there after the Demon Fire she created. But she heard bricks shifting and saw the door to the left. Stark opened the door and pushed Percy in, holding it open for the other two. "Everyone in."

They didn't argue, just shuffled inside and he shut the door behind him, leaning heavily against the wall that formed behind him and slid down to the floor, taking a deep breath as he rested his forehead against his folded arms, wand dangling from his finger tips. Luis took advantage of the moment to sit down before lying down on the cool stone floor and Chelly took a seat on the stairs. Percy was rocking back and forth not far from Luis.

"This is bad…" Luis said, eyes on the ceiling. "Isn't it?"

Stark lifted his head up, a trickle of blood led from his temple down his dirty face from a piece of debris that had hit him at some point. "Yeah, this is bad. This is bad and it's barely getting started."

"You mean it's going to get worse," Luis snorted, sitting up and rubbed at his sore back from the explosion.

"Oh yeah," he chuckled humorlessly.

"I need to find Oliver," said Chelly worriedly.

"Right now we need to decide where we're going and what we're going to do. I can't have you two scrambling out there and getting killed."

"I need to find him and Luna," she said.

"I get that and I need Percy to push this aside," he said and moved up enough to walk over to Percy and crouch down next to him. "Percy…Percy…"

The boy kept rocking back and forth staring at nothing.

"Great," he mumbled and moved in front of the boy.

"What's wrong with him?" Luis asked, leaning to get a better look.

"He's in shock," Stark answered.

"What do we do?" Luis asked.

Stark thrust his hand out and Percy skidded to the side, putting his hand out to stop himself from falling over. His other hand went to his reddened cheek from where he had been back handed. Chelly and Luis look stunned and Percy looked back at Stark just as stunned as they were. "Good," he merely said. "Now that I have your attention I need you to put your grief aside so we can finish this battle. You'll get yourself killed if you let it get to you."

"He's dead."

"I know he is and I can't tell you how sorry I am, but right now you need to turn your sadness into anger and take out as many of the bad guys as you can. Think you can do that?"

Percy nodded his head, his eyes suddenly hardening as the thought of destroying the Death Eater's dawned on him.

"Good," Stark stood and gave his hand to the Weasley to help stand him up. He patted him on the shoulder and turned to the two Ravenclaw's who were still gawking. "Pick your jaw up from the floor and get up."

They scrambled to their feet and he ran his fingers through his dark hair, letting it fall back in his eyes. "Were any of you hurt from the explosion?"

"Bruised, but I'll live," Luis said.

"I've had worse," said Chelly.

"Good, now we need to think of a plan. I think it's best to get the Great Hall. That's where the main fight will be and that's where they need our help."

"What about Ebony and Harry and the others?" Luis asked.

Stark shook his head with sigh. "They have what they need to do, so do we. We just need a way to get there."

Luis glanced at his watch and saw OW. Oliver Wood. "I think I have an idea," he tapped the face of his watch. "It can transport us to wherever Oliver is and I'm betting he's in the hall."

Stark raised his eyebrows curiously. "You mean to tell me…that you're _watch_ can transport us to the Great Hall."

"It sounds crazy, but trust, he's not bullshitting," said Chelly.

"Okay," Stark said. "I'll buy it. So how does it work?"

"Just put your hand on each other's shoulders and I'll do the rest," Luis said and felt Chelly put her hand on his shoulder. Percy touched his other and Stark put his hand on Chelly's to Luis's dim disappointment. He turned the face around so the arrow pointed to OW and the room melted away, building back up into the Hall they stood in seconds later, right near Oliver.

"Wow," Stark said in amazement. "Impressive."

Oliver turned around suddenly after firing a spell and his eyes widened until they stopped on Luis. "The watch trick again?"

"Easiest way of transportation," he said and stunned a Death Eater from the right.

Chelly hurried to Oliver's side. "Where's Luna?"

He gave her a quick kiss, "With Neville. She's safe. We're just cleaning up in here, they keep coming in. They're all over the entrance hall. Lupin and Tonks and McGonagall and a bunch of other teachers are out there trying to stop them. They have us in here, cleaning up whatever comes through the windows. Quite a bit, I'll say."

George came to a skidding halt next to Chelly. "I'm up to twelve," he grinned. His eyes searched the area. "Where's Ebony?"

"She went with Harry," Luis said and bit his lower lip, eyes darting to the ground unable to look at the only twin left.

His smile faltered around the edges into a grim line as he noticed someone else missing, his other half. "Where's Fred? He was with you."

Luis and Chelly averted their eyes and Stark kept his gaze steady on the windows, stunning anything that tried to get in. Percy had tears in his eyes and shook his head slightly, the only one able to face his brother. George swallowed hard and Chelly put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, George."

"Was…was it quick?" he asked, blinking back his own tears.

Luis nodded, answering this one. "Very, one minute he was joking the next…he was gone."

George nodded his head and looked away. "Let's finish this then, shall we…for Fred…for everyone…"

Chelly agreed and stupefied a Death Eater trying to get in the window. She was about to hit another when a vision flew past her. It was Lupin getting hit with as green jet of light, he looked shocked and confused right before his body crumbled to the ground, dead. Another flooded her just as quickly. 

She saw Dolohov aiming at her and a red spell hit her, sending her flying back into the wall in a heap. The vision faded and before she could recover Stark grabbed her elbow. "I want you to come with me."

"Where?" she asked.

"You're needed at the entrance," he said and met her eyes. "I know you just had a vision, you got that clouded look. What was it?"

"People dying in the entrance," she said but was still reluctant after seeing herself get majorly injured in that very hall. "Why me?"

"Because, Chelly, you are one of the most gifted students in that room and you are needed out here more than in there," he told her simply. "Just try not to get killed. I don't think your boyfriend will like me much if you do, not to mention what Ebony will do to me."

He started moving away and she grabbed his arm, "Wait, you're not gonna stay with me?"

"You're a big girl, you can take care of yourself. I'll keep an eye out for you, but I'm going out front."

"Out there?" she asked eyes wide.

"Yeah, you help the teacher's in here, I'm going out to the front."

"But there's like a bunch of Death Eater's out there!"

He nodded, "Thanks for that update, but I'll be fine." He gently pushed her towards the opposite side. "You go do your job and I'll do mine."

With that she watched him leave and took a deep breath, hurrying out into the hall. She had stunned and stupefied two Death Eater's before even reaching the main fight. Waves of black and white shadows swayed around as Death Eater's and Order members chased each other in flight and jets of different colored lights seemed to come in every direction. Through it all she caught sight of Tonks and Lupin fighting near each other, dueling other Death Eater's.

Chelly took a deep breath and headed towards them, sending out random spells at those who tried to attack her. Anything to stop the vision of Lupin's death from coming true. She came to a halt near Lupin who took notice to her.

"Chelly, what are you doing here?"

"Helping you out," she said, stunning another Death Eater who blocked it and sent a spell back at her. She managed to miss it and shouted out another spell, "_Confusio_!" followed with "_Rubbionox_!" turning the Death Eater's limbs to practical putty. "Shouldn't you be somewhere safer?"

"I could ask the same of you," he said. "Where is Ebony?"

"Helping Harry," she answered and pointed her wand at another Death Eater. "_Lightingious_!" A bolt of lightning shot from her wand and struck the Death Eater, sending then flying into the wall.

"Well done!" he beamed.

"Thanks," she smiled though it was short lived as a purple spell hit her sending her skidding back across the floor, her wand sliding from her fingers too far for her to reach.

"You little traitor," Yaxley hissed his face twisted in anger. "I knew it all along. I'll deal with you later."

She watched in her dazed state as he battled Lupin and she tried pushing herself up on her arms but found her paralysis was still too complete over her. She could only watch the sight before her. Lupin and Yaxley exchanged spell for spell. Lupin managed to disarm him and turned to look towards Tonks to see if she was all right. Chelly's eyes widened as Yaxley pulled another wand from his sleeve.

"LOOK OUT!" she shouted.

Lupin turned back to Yaxley too late. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

The green spell hit Lupin straight in the chest and she gasped, able to push herself up on her arms as she watched Lupin with a stunned look. He took one last breath as his legs gave out and he crumbled to the floor lifeless.

"REMUS!" came the pain filled cry from Tonks that caused tears to fill Chelly's eyes. She moved shakily to her feet, staring down at Lupin. He was gone. Just like her vision. A shadow appeared out of the corner of her eye and Dolohov stood there, wand pointed at her and a smile across his crooked face. She touched her pocket for her wand and found it empty, her eyes scanned the floor and found it too far to grab from here. This was what she saw in her vision. Her helpless and attacked.

"_Airicus Breathos_!" he said and she gasped, not from the spell, but because she was knocked to the right, twisted to move out of the way. She landed on her back and was able to see the spell hit Tonks. The pink haired girl gave out a cry and fell next to Lupin.

"TONKS!" Chelly shouted and turned her head. She had been pushed right next to her wand. She was quick to grab it in her anger and pointed it at Dolohov. "_AVADA KEDAVRA_!" The green light hit an unsuspecting Dolohov and he fell dead to the ground with the same confused look on his face.

Chelly was on her hands and knees already, crawling towards the fallen couple. She put her hand on Tonks shoulder and was surprised when the pink haired young woman opened her eyes slightly. She could tell by Tonks's breathing she was going to die and there was no stopping it. Chelly's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

"'s okay," she mumbled. "'s okay…I got Remus…'s okay."

"What about Teddy?"

"Ebony…and 'arry…they'll have him…'s okay."

"You shouldn't have done that…you shouldn't have saved me. It wasn't supposed to happen. I had a vision. I was supposed to get hit."

"Visions…are made to be…broken…you're young…live it…"

Chelly nodded her head and rubbed Tonks's shoulder. "Go with him…"

She smiled weakly and her eyes drifted shut. Her head fell to the side, onto Lupin's shoulder and the two appeared to only be sleeping. But she knew better. She knew they'd never wake up again. They were gone. She wiped at her eyes and removed the vial from her pocket. It still wasn't glowing. Until it did she could save no one.

She was unaware of the Death Eater that had formed behind her until he fell to the ground. She spun around in her shock and saw George standing there, wand in hand. He moved closer to her and stared down at Lupin and Tonks. "Are they…?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah…they're gone."

George let out a mumbled curse. "Ebony won't like this…neither will Harry…and what about Teddy?"

"Ebony and Harry will take care of him. It's what Tonks wanted."

"We better go try and find her," George said. "Any idea where she could be?"

_Visions were made to be broken_, she heard Tonks's words in her head and found a new determination. "Yes, I do…and we need to be quick or we'll be too late."

She tugged on George's sleeve for him to follow her to the Room of Requirement and the tunnel that would take them to the Shrieking Shack to change what she saw before it was too late.

* * *

Luis ducked behind a table that was flipped over as another stream of curses came his way. There were at least five or six Death Eater's in the dining hall and only four of them. George had disappeared into the Grand Hall and Stark had taken Chelly with him out there before that. It left, Percy, Oliver, Krum, and Katie too cover this area. And they were outnumbered.

Luis reached into his pocket and drew out a vial. The pink one. That was Draught of Death. That would work. He ducked out from behind the table long enough to aim on the Death Eater with the special contact in his left eye. It found the target and he threw the vial and it smashed near two of them. 

Both inhaled the purple fumes and collapsed to the floor like rag dolls. Luis lifted his arms in victory before ducking back behind the table. He didn't see any of the others in the room besides Viktor, then again, with it being Krum he'd only notice that Bulgarian in a room full of people.

He caught sight of him fending off a Death Eater not too far from where Luis hid. He seemed to be managing well, having taken out six prior to this one. But as Luis watched, Krum's luck ran out. His wand shot from his hand, too far to reach and too far from Luis to retrieve. The Bulgarian's eyes widened and he spun back to the Death Eater who lifted his wand at Viktor. Luis was running towards him before he even realized he was moving, a new potion in his hand.

"KRUM, LOOK OUT!" he shouted and shouldered the bigger boy out of the way, tumbling with him and throwing the green vial in his hand at the same time. It burst at the Death Eater's feet and caused him to be paralyzed. The death spell hit just above them, causing the wall to burst apart and as Luis landed he felt a searing pain in his arm followed by a small wave of pain as he landed on the hard stone floor with an oomph. He did take notice he had landed partially on Viktor, their legs mixed together from the fall.

"Are you badly hurt?" Viktor asked Luis, generally concerned as he moved out from under him to inspect him.

Luis pushed himself up on his good arm. His left was currently bleeding from the debris he had skidded on saving Krum from a rather deadly spell. He clutched his bleeding arm with his free hand, still holding his wand in his damaged arm. "Yeah," he winced. "I'm all right."

"You are bleeding," Krum observed eyes wide as he bent to look at it.

Luis snorted, "Trust me, I've had worse. I'm more concerned about this jacket. I just bought it…damn. And it's always this arm too…"

"It is my fault," Krum said and put his hand on his shoulder. "You were hurt saving me…I owe you my life, Luis."

It finally dawned on Luis who he had just saved as he stared at Viktor. Viktor Krum. The very man he had a huge crush on. He gigged and blushed unable to really speak. Viktor helped him up. "Come, let us go. It is dangerous here."

Luis just nodded his head, no longer noticing the rip in his jacket. How could he with Viktor Krum's hand on his arm? But somewhere, in the very back of his mind, he wondered how the others were fairing…or if any of his friends were still alive.


	16. Chapter 16

_

* * *

_

The moment she's been fearing for years…like I said, this is a canon fanfic…sadly I follow it in this fanfic…

_Song lyrics from Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne_

* * *

_The day you slipped away  
Was the day I found  
It won't be the same_

* * *

**CH 20 – GONE**

Once down the hall the four managed to get safely across the quad undetected and to the whomping willow. Harry picked up a nearby stick and pushed at the knot on the branch freezing the tree and stopping its tantrum. The tunnel was low ceilinged. A few years ago they could walk four across through it, but now it was two by two.

"We'll go first," Harry said and gestured for Ebony to follow. Towards the end of the tunnel they heard voices and Ebony's heart fluttered. She heard her dad. He was there just above the trap door. Before she could move forward, Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her under the invisibility cloak, putting a finger to his lips to indicate she should be quiet. She nodded her head but had difficulty resisting the urge to go running towards her father. They crouched down, watching through the secret door in the wall, staring out beyond the crates.

Ebony's eyes widened. There was her father, standing before Voldermort who toyed with a wand through his fingers, Nagini in a safe bubble around his neck.

"The resistance is crumbling, my Lord," Snape revealed. "You should be able to take over the castle soon…"

"That's not the concern on my mind, Severus. It's not why I called you here," he said boringly.

"My Lord?"

"All this long night," Voldermort said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "When I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here wondering why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform for its rightful owner…and I think I have the answer."

Snape's eyes gave nothing away, "My Lord…"

"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine."

Harry heard a sharp gasp and turned his head to see Ebony tense, eyes full of fear. He grabbed her back before she could launch herself forward, saving her from what would be her own death. His other hand snaked around her mouth to stop her from screaming and giving their presence away. Ebony was frozen in his grip, paralyzed by what she was seeing from the trap door they were peering out of. Voldermort thought her father had the Elder Wand because he had killed Dumbledore who had possessed it. But it was a mistake. She had to tell him it was a mistake. That her father didn't have the Elder Wand since it was a suicide pact. It didn't count if the person swore the supposed killer to actually kill them. Her dad didn't have the wand and now Voldermort was going to kill him to possess it. Kill her father.

Snape posed, ready to flee and she held her breath, hoping he'd Disapparate now and save himself. But Voldermort spoke before he could, "I wouldn't try to escape if I were you…it'd be a shame for something to happen to your pretty little daughter if you did."

"No. She's not part of this," her father defended, no longer ready to Disapparate at the fear of her being killed.

"She's been a part of this," he smiled, amused. "And she was a good follower just as you were, Severus. I regret what must happen."

"You will not harm my daughter," he shook his head, hands balled into fists.

"She's of no use to me anymore, Severus," he shrugged. "All that matters is the wand. I must master the wand to master Potter…"

He shook his head, eyes set in dark fury, "I won't let you hurt her…you will never touch her."

Voldermort didn't seem to hear him as he whipped his wand in the air. It did nothing at first and Ebony thought for a split second her father had been spared but then it became clear. The snake's cage was rolling through the air and before Snape could do anything more than gasp at his certain fate, it had encased him. She heard her father let out the pained cry, saw his face pale as the snake's fangs ripped into his neck. She felt Harry's arms tighten around her and her mouth fell open to scream but nothing came out but a small burst of air as she watched her father's knees give out and saw him collapse to the floor. She took another breath, ready to scream but Harry's hand went over her mouth again, stopping her.

"I regret it," Voldermort said coldly. He turned and left the room with no sadness in him, no remorse. He just left the shack with Nagini in her protective cage.

Once he was sure Voldermort was gone did Harry release his hand from her mouth and his other arm from his grip on her. She felt him let her go and burst from the hiding area. She scrambled across the floor, knocking over a crate as she went, never fully able to stand up right from a mixture of the shakiness in her and the quick movement.

"No, no, Dad, no," Ebony muttered over and over and fell to her knees next to Snape, lifting his torso into her lap just as Harry kneeled on his other side. The dark haired girl pressed her hand against the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood that just leaked from between her fingertips inevitably as she continued to mutter to herself. A silver liquid began to leak from Snape's eyes, mouth, and ears, something more than the blood and Ebony in her sorrow realized it was his memories. They were the ones he had shown her hours before when life was perfect, before this nightmare had fallen over her.

Snape reached up and grabbed Harry's shirt. "Take it…take it," Snape spoke low to Harry as a silvery liquid seemed to spill from him.

A flask formed in the air from Hermione and she put it in Harry's hands and turned away unable to watch. Harry used his wand to put the silvery substance into his flask. Snape's grip on him tightened. "Look…at…me."

Harry did, his colored eyes meeting Snape's dark ones. It seemed to make him content and his gaze flicked to Ebony.

"Please, no, Dad don't go," Ebony begged, tears filling her eyes. Harry felt a pang of sympathy for her, she had just lost Sirius as he had, her biological father, two years before and now she was losing the last support she had, she was losing her father. The very man she had fought so hard to get back.

Snape's eyes met her bright ones and he managed a smile, unable to speak anymore than a croak of her name as he touched her cheek, smearing blood onto it before his hand fell back down lifeless as it hit the floor and his eyes became fixed on nothing, closing as the last of life left him. Harry sat there, unsure of what to say or feel. Everything was still in the room, even in the distance that sound of fighting had ceased as if his death had been felt across the way.

Ebony stared, hardly breathing as Snape died in her arms. She let out a strangled sound at last, as if her throat wasn't sure how to work at first before remembering. "NO!" she screamed and the tears came heavily from her eyes as she sobbed, back heaving as she bent over his body, hugging him close as it all came out. All the emotion she had kept bottled in burst from her, all the tears she had fought back for so long. Harry had never seen her like this before, never seen her so heartbroken and it hurt to witness. For all the wrong doing he felt Snape had done to him, he didn't wish this upon him. If only for Ebony's sake. She let the emotion out, she had held it back for so long from the hope of getting him back again…and she had…but now…now there was no finding him, now he was gone forever and she was alone. And Voldermort still lived…

She lifted her head up enough from Snape's body to look at him. "Go Harry…finish this."

"Come with me," he told her.

She shook her head and looked down at the body in her arms, at her father and let out a choked sob. "I just got him back again, Harry…I can't leave him here."

"We'll take him with us."

"No…I need a while alone…go on…I'll catch up…just…please," she asked eyes downcast and he understood exactly what she meant. With a nod, he stood up, heading back out the tunnel he had came through, leaving Ebony with her grief.

Chelly and George were just coming down the opposite tunnel when they heard Ebony's scream just ahead. George froze and Chelly bumped into him from the sudden stop. "That sounded like Ebony."

"That was Ebony," he nodded and Chelly pushed past him, hurrying down the secret passageway.

Chelly crawled up through the hole and paused, feeling her heart break at the sight of her broken best friend. George squeezed in next to her and she heard him stop breathing as well. Neither of them had ever seen her like this. Seen her so broken or devastated. The two moved into the room, quietly and slowly, kneeling down next to her on either side as she continued to cry into her father's body.

"Eb…" George put a hand on her back cautiously and when she didn't yell at him he started slowly rubbing it in circles. "We're here…"

She sniffled and spoke without lifting her head, her voice as broken as she felt. "He's gone…"

"I know," Chelly nodded, rubbing her back as well with tears in her eyes. "I know…"

"He was here and now he's gone…" her voice broke into a sob again and George winced. She lifted her tear streaked face up. "I saw him through there," she turned her head to the hole they had just crawled out of. "He was speaking to Voldermort…and Voldermort said he had to do this, to have possession over Dumbledore's wand, the Elder Wand…and before I could try…he had the snake attack him… killed him…he just killed him…and I tried to save him," tears fell down her cheeks again. "I tried and I couldn't…there was so much blood and I couldn't save him…I couldn't save my dad…" she started crying again and George pulled her closer to him, hugging her from behind so she still held Snape in her lap. She buried her face in his shoulder.

George held her there for what seemed like ever but was only a few minutes until she pulled away from him. "Harry…" she whispered and looked at the hole they had come in through. "I have to help, Harry…"

"Eb, you don't have to go," George told her.

She shook her head, "No, I have to finish this…I have to do this…" She looked at her father one more time, and with her eyes closed in her grief she moved her father from her lap and stood up. Her jeans covered in her father's blood along with her sleeve. She'd have collapsed under the weight of what had happened had she not needed to finish what had been started.

"Take care of my dad," she told Chelly. "Please."

"Where are you going?" she asked and grabbed Ebony's elbow.

"To help Harry," she glanced at her father's body and Chelly saw the fire in her blue eyes.

"But Harry has to kill Voldermort."

"I don't want Voldermort…I want that fucking snake," she growled in her anger. "Take care of my dad…make sure you take him back to Hogwarts…please."

"I'll put him with…with Fred," George said and Ebony felt a pang of sympathy, remembering his twin's death. She had forgotten, lost in her own thoughts.

"George, I'm so sorry…" she said to him.

"Go, Ebony…you need to," he told her, tears in his own eyes.

"I will…"

"Wait," Chelly said and Ebony turned to her. She looked miserable, almost guilty. "Ebony, I didn't want to tell you this. Not after …" she gestured at Snape.

"What?" Ebony asked. "Chelly, what is it?"

"Its…" there were tears in her eyes. "I fought with Lupin and Tonks while you were gone…and there were a bunch of Death Eaters…Yaxley was there…Tonks saved me…they're dead, Eb."

Ebony wasn't sure she could pale any more than she had, wasn't sure if her heart could feel any heavier. "What?"

"Lupin, your Godfather…he's dead…so is Tonks…"

Ebony was too drained of emotion to cry, too numb to show the sadness.

"If you see Yaxley, kill him…"

"Believe me…I will…killing something seems like a good idea," she said and left through the tunnel she had come through. Chelly watched her go with a heavy heart. She was too late to save him, too late to change her vision. She took the vial out of her pocket, it wasn't glowing yet. But she knew now that when it did, she would save Snape, for Ebony's sake.

"You think she'll be okay," George asked her, sitting on the floor next to Snape.

Chelly stared down the dark tunnel that seemed blacker now, as if Ebony's mood had changed the atmosphere and she felt the chill run down her spine. "It's not Ebony I'm worried about." And it wasn't. It was whatever poor soul stood in her way.

* * *

_Now you're gone  
Now you're gone  
There you go  
There you go  
Somewhere I can't bring you back  
Now you're gone  
Now you're gone  
There you go  
There you go  
Somewhere you're not coming back  
_


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I only own Stark, Ebony, Luis, and Chelly...Song lyrics are by Delta Goodrem - Last Night on Earth_

_Extremely short chapter but the next will make up for it...nearly to the end...who will live..._

* * *

_It's the last night on earth before the great divide  
My hands are shaking time was never on our side  
And there's no such thing as a beautiful goodbye  
As an ordinary day I prayed for you a thousand times_

* * *

**CH 21 – ALL THAT REMAINS**

She didn't even realize she was outside. Not when the wind blew across her face, causing her hair to sweep across her, sticking to the still wet blood on her cheek. Not with the stars brightly in the sky above her or the damp grass below her. She didn't even acknowledge the Whomping Willow as she walked out from it and made the path back towards the castle. She didn't even notice the battle around them had stopped, the grounds were quiet and the dead were being moved by other older students and teachers as she got closer.

"Ebony," she heard her name called and turned around to see Stark coming towards her. His smile faded on his face as he took in the blood covering her and he hurried over to her. "Oh my God, what happened?" he asked and touched her shoulder, looking her over.

She shook her head, "It's…it's not mine."

"Whose is it?" he asked, inspecting her for any wounds of her own.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "My dad's…"

Realization washed over Stark, and he hung his head with a deep breath before meeting her gaze. "How?"

"Voldermort…his snake, Nagini. He commanded her to kill him…and I was there. I saw it all. I watched him die, Stark…" she trailed off and shook her head, looking away.

"I'm so sorry, Eb," he said softly and just stood there with her in the silence.

A voice boomed across the sky and the two looked up, seeing nothing but the stars yet hearing Voldermort's voice as clearly as if he was standing near them. "You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldermort knows how to value bravery…yet you have sustained heavy losses," Ebony felt her breath hitch a little in her throat as the void in her grew and Stark put his arm around her shoulders. "If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. I am merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you," Stark and Ebony exchanged glances, "You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself, permitted even some of your closest friends to lose their entire families in just one night," Ebony knew he was speaking about her. "I shall wait for you for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

"Shit…" Stark mumbled. "That's not good. You think he'll go?"

She nodded. "I know he will…"

Stark tilted his head, watching her and the passive look on her face. "You plan on going with him don't you?"

Ebony took a deep breath, "Go help Chelly and George bring my Dad back here…they're probably coming down the tunnel right now from under the Whomping Willow."

"It's suicide."

"Please go help them, Stark," she said again.

He nodded his head, "All right…but you better be here when I get back."

She briefly nodded and continued walking back to the castle silently. She approached the gates in the same numb state and saw Oliver and Neville moving Colin Creevy's body inside. Oliver glanced up and saw her, it took him a moment to take in the sight of her and she saw the fear on his face.

"What happened? Where's Chelly?"

"She's fine," she promised with a faint smile.

"Are you?"

"I'm not hurt."

"Then…" he gestured at the blood stains that soaked through her black see through sweater tunic and stained the front of her pale blue top not to mention the blood that drenched the top of her jeans above the knee or the blood that stained both her arms and face.

"It's not mine…" she trailed off.

"Then who's…," Oliver's gaze fell to behind her and his face paled. "Oh my God…"

Ebony looked slightly over her shoulder and saw George and Stark carrying Snape's body with Chelly in tow. She looked back at Oliver and saw he was looking at her now with such sadness she had to look away for fear of crying. "Eb, I'm sorry."

"So am I," she whispered and walked past him, inside to where the Great Hall was. If she didn't feel a void in her chest before, she felt one now. The House tables were gone and the room was crowded. The survivors stood in groups, their arms around each other. The injured were being treated upon the raised platform by Madam Pomfrey and a group of healers. The dead lay in a row in the middle of the Hall. Ebony couldn't see Fred's body because his family surrounded him, Mrs. Weasley was lying across Fred's chest, her body shaking with her sobs. Mr. Weasley was stroking her hair while tears cascaded down his cheeks. George had just joined his family and Ron hugged him, face red as he tried not to cry but the minute he hugged George the tears came and the surviving twin hugged him just as fiercely. She saw Hermione with Ginny, an arm around the younger girl.

Ebony took a deep breath to stifle the sob in her own chest as she saw the two bodies next to Fred: Uncle Remus and Tonks. She was moving slowly like the dead towards them and stood just in front of the two bodies of her family. They were pale and still and peaceful looking, asleep beneath the enchanted ceiling. She turned her head slightly to see her father occupying the other space on the other side of Remus and thought for a moment about how he'd heckle that before it hit her like a ton of bricks that her family was dead. They lay in a neat row in front of her, all ripped from her life in a few hours. She put a hand to her mouth to hold back the sob in her throat.

"Oh…Eb…," she heard a voice behind her and didn't have to turn around to know it was Luis. She felt a hand on her arm and shrugged away from it.

"Don't," she shook her head. "Just…don't."

"I'm sorry."

"Everyone is," she said numbly and couldn't help the snippiness in her voice. She had every right to be bitter. Her family was dead, all laid in a pretty little row on display. Just as Sirius was gone. She had no one left…least not the she cared for…except…

She lifted her head up and saw Chelly and Oliver standing together not too far from her. Luis and Krum were further back, helping arrange more of the dead and Stark was laying another body done a few rows down…but she didn't see who she was looking for.

Ebony turned and started walking away. Chelly called after her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not done yet," she said.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

She looked over her shoulder at her friends and past them at the Weasley's grieving over Fred and then to her deceased relatives…her father. She'd suffered enough for the night. She couldn't bear to lose anymore than she already had to. "No, I can do this one my own…stay here. Be careful."

Ebony left the Great Hall and headed towards Dumbledore's office where she expected him to be but paused suddenly, looking towards the entrance that led out front. She heard footsteps but no one was there. She moved that way, heading back outside. She stood there a bit longer and saw the foot prints leading out the gate towards the Forest. Ebony went around the quad, as to not be seen and ran towards the Forest. She stopped again, waiting behind a tree until the prints went past her. She reached a blind hand out until she hit something and pulled the back of Harry's cloak before he could enter the forest. He had a shocked expression on his now visible face. "Where are you going?"

"Ebony…how did you see me?"

"That doesn't matter but I see you're going into the Forbidden Forest, exactly where Voldermort asked you to go."

"I have to."

"And I have to go with you."

"No, you can't."

"That's not your choice to make," she said to him. "I'm not going to let you go marching in there to hand yourself over to Voldermort…not alone…because you're not alone. You got all this way and I wasn't there for you and now I am…you're all I have left, Harry…" she felt her throat tighten again.

"I can't risk you getting killed…"

"I won't be killed, not with my Death Royalty…I'm sure you saw that in the visions."

His silence was her answer as his eyes flicked to her wrist. She removed her mother's bracelet and the watch Harry had gotten her years ago and put her wrist out. Her Death Royalty Mark glowed black on her skin, the snake withering about. "It doesn't make me evil, Harry."

"I know," he said. "I saw…neither of you were evil…I'm…I'm sorry, Ebony…for everything."

She nodded. "They'll want me alive…I can't let you do this alone…I want to be there with you."

"Ebony…" still doubting it.

"He killed my Dad…Nagini killed him…you can't tell me not to come when I just watched him die…I won't stop you…I'm not talking you out of it because your mind is made up and you know this has to be…I saw my dad's memories too a few hours ago…I know…I just want you to at least have one friend there." She reached for his hand. "One person there who loves you so you're not alone."

Harry squeezed her hand back and for a moment she thought he'd tell her to leave, but his green eyes met her blue ones and he nodded his head. "Thank you…"

She jerked her chin towards the forest. "We better be going…"

She took a step forward and heard something hit the floor on the other side of Harry, it was a stone of sorts. "What was that?"

"Nothing…" he shook his head. He didn't need it anymore. Even though he wanted to see his family, his loved ones, it wouldn't be them. He had all the family he needed right here next to him. "It was nothing."

With that said he kept his hand in Ebony's and walked with her into the darkness, never knowing if either of them would come back from it, but knowing for certain, they weren't alone.


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: I only own the same four characters...song is by Rihanna - Umbrella_

_She didn't venture alone..._

* * *

_When the sun shines, we'll shine together  
Told you I'll be here forever  
Said I'll always be your friend  
Took an oath I'ma stick it out till the end  
Now it's raining more than ever  
But we'll still have each other  
You can stand under my umbrella  
_

* * *

**CH 22 - FOLLOW**

Stark saw Ebony leaving the Great Hall, heading out on a mission. It would lead to trouble, he knew that much to be true. After all, Voldermort had killed her father and during this battle alone she lost more than anyone should have. He'd seen her face outside when Voldermort had spoke to Harry. He knew where she was going. Which was why he was going to follow her.

He slipped out of the Great Hall and peeked around the corner watching her go across the quad. He followed out after her and stayed behind a stone pillar just outside to watch her as she stopped just before the forest and spoke to Harry. They were definitely going. Harry was planning on turning himself in and Ebony was going with him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He expected this but it still didn't calm his worry.

"What are we looking at?" a voice whispered behind him and he spun around to see Luis and Krum standing there.

Luis squinted for a moment having lost his glasses in battle, his blind eye focused in and he gasped. "Is that Ebony and Harry!"

"Shhh!" he hushed and grabbed them both, pulling them away from view. He glanced to see neither had heard Luis. "Yes," he whispered back.

"What are they doing?" Luis asked.

"They're going into the Forbidden Forest."

Luis gaped, eyes wide. "Are they crazy? Voldermort is in there."

"Harry is turning himself in," Krum said as it dawned on him. Stark gave him credit. His head was completely filled with air after all.

"Yes, they are," he said.

Krum's eyes focused back on Stark. "And you intend to follow them."

He nodded again and Luis balked. "Are you crazy!? You can be killed. You are nuts. There is no way in hell I would go in there. It's a death sentence, it's suicide. I'm not that crazy. I'm not that stupid. I'm-."

"I am going with you," Krum told Stark.

"I'm in," Luis nodded in agreement.

Stark fought the urge to roll his eyes at the Ravenclaw's sudden change of heart now that the Bulgarian agreed to go. "Neither of you are going. You're staying here."

"You will need help. You may be a teacher and know more, but I am strong too and Luis is talented with potions," Krum said.

Luis gave him a dazed grin. "Hehe…yeah," he seemed to snap to it suddenly and reached into the pocket of his jacket with his good arm and pulled out a handful of vials. "I got a few left here."

"What are those?" Stark asked.

"Well, I'm not great at spells so I found ways to bottle certain potions into vapor once they hit a surface. These are a few of them."

"Very clever," Stark admitted. "But I don't want to have to worry about the two of you along with Harry and Ebony."

"And how do you think Ebony would feel knowing you're risking your life going in there to save her when she's lost enough as it is," Luis said.

Stark was silent. He had a point. With a deep sigh and another run of his fingers through his hair, he nodded his head. "Okay, fine you can go…but under one condition, you follow my orders and you stick together." Although he doubted Luis was going to have a problem sticking to Krum.

"That's technically two conditions," Luis pointed out.

He glared at the younger boy, "Luis, you already lost your vision in one eye, do you want to keep the other?"

Luis gulped and stepped behind Krum. "You really were a Slytherin."

He glanced back around the pillar and saw Ebony and Harry disappear through the trees. He gestured for the two to follow and stay quiet. Once they reached the spot where Ebony and Harry had been, he moved his hand out for them to stop. He didn't see either of them but held his wand in the palm of his hand. "Point me."

The wand spun a few times in a circle and then stopped, swaying back and forth lightly before pointing just to the left. "They're this way," he said and beckoned with his hand for the two to follow.

Luis took a few steps and paused, a shiny object catching his eye from the floor. "Oo! What's this?" He picked the shiny black stone up off the floor. On close inspection he saw it had a giant crack going down the middle.

"It looks like a rock," Krum said holding his wand out, lighting it so they could see. Krum took it from him and turned it over in his hand, "Could just be from the ground."

Stark took the stone from him and turned it over, inspecting it. "On this night of all nights, I doubt it."

Luis took the stone back and turned it over, "It's pretty."

They all heard it then, the movement of bodies behind them and the slight breeze. They turned around in sync to see the three figures standing there. The stone slid from Luis's fingers to the ground as he gapped wide eyed and grabbed Viktor's arm who was just as stunned as he was.

"It's not so pretty," he squeaked and pointed at the three before him. "You're dead…you're all dead."

"How very observant of you, Luis," Mad Eye moody said, rolling his eye in his head with an exasperated sigh.

"But…they are dead," Krum nodded, staring at Cedric. He had seen the boy's dead body three years prior. "Which means…" he picked the stone off the floor. "This isn't a regular stone."

"And his head isn't full of saw dust as I thought," Mad Eye snorted.

"Even dead you're still bitter," Cedric shook his head.

"Because I'm dead," he mumbled.

"W-why are you here?" Luis asked.

Mad Eye said. "You each turned the stone over once and thus calling three of us."

"But why?" Stark asked and took the stone from Krum as it came to him. "The Resurrection Stone…it was just a myth though…a story."

"You so sure about that," Colin Creevy asked, looking too young to be dead. He had seen Oliver carry the young boy's body into the Great Hall.

"It was just a myth…just like the Elder Wand…and," his eyes widened and he looked up to Moody.

The man nodded. "The Invisibility Cloak."

"Like Ebony's?" Luis asked.

Stark shook his head. "No, hers is magically possessed…but Harry's…his is real…he has the actual cloak. So that means it's real…the stone, the cloak and…the wand…but where's the wand?"

"Don't you know who possessed it last?" Cedric asked.

"You were there after all, Stark, fighting with the Order that night at the Ministry," Moody hinted.

"What's the have to do with anything?" he asked with a frown.

"Who fought someone more powerful than any of us could fight?"

Stark thought it over. "Professor Dumbledore fought Voldermort…you mean…he had the wand?"

Moody, Colin, and Cedric nodded.

"So Snape had the wand?" Luis asked, remembering the fairytale. Who ever possessed the wand and was defeated or had the wand fairly taken from them was the next holder of the Elder Wand.

"No," Stark shook his head before the other three could answer. "You know as well as I do that Snape didn't kill Dumbledore out of cold blood…Ebony wouldn't defend him so much if he had…meaning the wand wasn't in Snape's possession."

"The Dark Lord just thought her father had it," Krum put together.

"Exactly," Colin said across from them.

"So who has the wand?" Stark asked.

"Think it over…the night Dumbledore died," Cedric hinted.

Stark hadn't been near the tower that night. He'd been outside fighting Death Eater's. But Luis was thinking it over. He'd been there. Chelly had been knocked out at the foot of the stairs. Snape had gone up to kill Dumbledore…for Draco.

"Draco!" he exclaimed. "Draco had it then. Because he was supposed to kill Dumbledore but disarmed him and that wasn't premeditated. So he was the one to take Dumbledore's wand from him."

The three nodded and Luis beamed like only a Ravenclaw could.

"But Draco didn't have a wand earlier when Ebony saved him," Stark brought up.

"So he had his wand taken?" Krum guessed.

"But by who?"

No one knew the answer and the other three weren't saying. But they knew what mattered. That Voldermort only _thought_ he had the wand. The three disappeared now that they knew what they needed to know, disappearing into the night.

"That was weird," Luis said breaking the silence.

Stark looked at the stone in his hand. He pointed his wand at it. "_Disaperio_." It vanished in a flash.

"Where did it go?" Krum asked.

"Bottom of the ocean somewhere where no one can get to it," Stark said. "Come on. We need to go help Harry and Ebony."

"How do we do that?"

He gestured at his wand that was still indicating they should go straight but slightly to the left. "Follow where it's saying to go."

They ventured on, deeper into the Forbidden Forest and Luis stayed close behind Krum who stayed a good few feet behind Stark as they moved slowly through. The wand started to vibrate in the air and Stark grabbed it, holding his other hand out for the two to stop and put a finger to his lips so they knew to be quiet. He could see a fire burning in the distance not too far away. That had to be Voldermort's camp. Ever so carefully he moved closer, hiding behind a large tree. He beckoned for the two to follow and pointed to a tree across from him. Krum moved behind it, pressing his back against it. Luis ducked in next to him and watched as Stark and Krum leaned around the large trees to see. Luis maneuvered his way ducking behind the rather immense root protruding out of the ground.

The two looked over at Stark and Luis whispered, "Is that them?"

Stark nodded, "Be very quiet."

He held up an OK sign, "I'll be stealth, quiet as a cat…"

Stark stepped around the tree, keeping his back pressed up against it and Krum followed moving over the root Luis was behind. Luis stepped up onto the root and slid a little. It wasn't as easy as the other two made it look. Damn their athleticism. He got one foot on the ground and smiled to himself, it was easy. He stepped forward but failed to notice the moss patch where his other foot stepped and slipped. He reached out to grab the tree but his feet already flew out from under him and he braced himself, landing on his cut up arm. "OW! SON A FUCKING BITCH!"

Stark and Krum spun around, eyes wide at Luis's outburst.

"Oops," he mumbled from the ground putting a hand to his mouth.

Then they heard it. The voices from the fire and could make out the dark shadows of Death Eater's coming in. There were too many of them and they darted in just as Luis remembered from the Ministry. He ducked to the floor but it didn't stop him from being pulled back just like before, enveloped in the shadow. He briefly caught a glimpse of Krum being grabbed despite his efforts to stun the shadows. Stark tried disappearing into the white light but a dark one knocked him to the ground and he felt a stiff kick to his face that knocked him back, wand dropping from his fingers as he was grabbed before he hit the ground.

The next thing the three knew they were standing in front a large fire pit. Stark had to blink a few times to adjust to the light. He saw Ebony to his left, held onto by two Death Eater's, tears streaming down her stained face. She shook her head, "You shouldn't have come…"

"Had to make sure you and Harry were okay," he said and spat blood onto the ground, the coppery taste was starting to make him gag.

Her eyes moved past him and she looked at Luis. "You shouldn't have followed…"

"Well…Krum came…so-so…I did too…might have been a bad idea," he mumbled the last part and looked around. He was shocked to see Hagrid bound to a tree, tears streaming down his massive face. He had a feeling those tears weren't for them…

"How noble…" a darker voice said and Luis felt his blood run cold as ever so slowly he turned his head to look at Voldermort and felt his chest tighten at the sight of the Dark Lord. "You three came to rescue them…very thoughtful of you…but sadly…you're too late…"

He moved away from where he had been standing to reveal Harry, crumbled on the floor like a rag doll, head tilted to the side, pale in his death. The three gasped and Luis felt his heart sink as tears came to his eyes, not at all surprised his damaged one could still show sorrow. Stark was frozen, staring at the young boy. They were too late to help…too late to save Harry.

Voldermort smiled at the looks etched on their faces. "The Boy Who Lived…is dead."

**CH 23 - Followed**

Together, Harry and Ebony walked through the forest. Ebony wanted to turn back and drag Harry with her, but there was no talking him out of it and she knew it. His mind was set on sacrificing himself to save everyone and she knew as well as he did that it was the only way, after all Harry was a Horocrux. They could see the fire dead ahead. She could feel her Death Royalty Mark pulsing with every step and hear Voldermort's voice beyond the trees, see him standing there in his dark robes with Bellatrix to one side, disheveled but unharmed.

"I thought he would come," Voldermort spoke in a clear voice, his eyes on the flames, "I expected him to come."

Nobody else said anything, no one even heard them approaching as they stood just beyond the shadow of the forest.

"I was it seems mistaken," Voldermort said.

"No, you weren't," Harry spoke loud and clear and Ebony gave him credit for it. With all the Death Eater's and Voldermort turning to look at the two of them she felt her throat tighten.

"Harry Potter…" Voldermort said with a grin on his lipless face. His eyes flicked to Ebony. "And you brought a friend with you Ebony Snape…"

"'ARRY! NO!" a voice bellowed.

Both turned to see Hagrid tied to a tree, struggling to get free. "NO! WHAT'RE YEH-."

"Quiet!" Rowe said with a wave of his wand and Hagrid lost his voice.

Voldermort and Harry continued to stare at one another and without looking away, Voldermort spoke. "Move Ebony out of the way…"

A Death Eater grabbed her by her arm and dragged her to the left. She gasped and tensed but didn't resist. There was nothing she could do after all. There were too many of them to fight off. She kept her eyes on them, flicking back and forth between Voldermort and Harry, waiting.

"Harry Potter," he said very softly. "The Boy Who Lived."

No one moved, everyone waited too afraid to even flinch. Voldermort's hand raised his wand and Ebony felt her breath hitch in her throat. His head tilted to the side and the words came out of that malicious smile. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

The spell hit Harry square in the chest and he crumbled to the ground, lifeless.

The breath Ebony had been holding came out in a sobbing pant and tears fell down her face. She had expected it, knew it would happen but the pain was still there. She didn't know she had any tears left to cry with all she had suffered. She didn't think the pain could get any worse but it ran deeper, marking her soul and tearing at her. She had nothing left now…they were all dead, her family was dead. And all were killed because of him…

She was unaware of Voldermort's presence before her until she felt a cold finger on her face. "Poor sweet girl…do not waste your tears for him…"

She jerked her face away, blue eyes as cold as ice as she stared at him. He smiled despite the look. "You had me fooled, young one…I thought for all these years you were faithful…that you and your other friend were dedicated. But it was a lie…a very clever lie, I might add. But a lie still. You were helping your precious Harry Potter and beloved Albus Dumbledore all this time, covering for them."

"And my father," she added coldly.

His smile broadened, "Severus too…you shall suffer the fate of them all…pity, your mother was such a devoted follower. It's a shame you couldn't follow in her stead…you are next to join them though…" he grabbed wrist, jerking her towards him and stopped suddenly, eyes growing wide. Ebony's eyes jerked to her left wrist that Voldermort was staring at. He pointed his wand at her wrist, causing the bracelet and watch to fall off and jerked her sleeve down, revealing her birth mark that glowed darkly on her skin.

"Death Royalty," he whispered in a pant and his eyes moved to hers. "You are Death Royalty," a grin spread across his face. "I have changed my mind, you will not die at all." Bellatrix seemed disappointed to hear it she noticed. "You are a perfect match. The power you possess is of great use, you shall stay by my side and rule with me when this is over…"

"My Lord…" Bellatrix huffed and he held an arm out to silence her.

"I did not ask you to speak," he hissed at her and she pouted, backing away. Voldermort turned to look at her again. "You, Ebony Snape, shall be mine."

She gasped slightly, not knowing which fate was worse.

"But do not worry, my bride, by the time this night is over I will have made sure your Death Mark has ruled you and none of this will matter any more."

He let go of her arm, "Hold her, make sure she doesn't try to get away."

A pair of hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back. She was too numb to run. Her mind was exhausted. Her family was dead and she was to be Voldermort's bride. She couldn't will her legs to move much less run.

Voldermort stood in front of Harry's body, staring down at him. "The night is ours," he said with a smile. "We have won. No one can stop us…"

"OW! SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!" a voice from the woods yelled and Ebony turned her head towards the sound.

"Luis!" she whispered frantically. He had followed them here. She watched as six or seven Death Eater's evaporated into shadows and took off into the forest. Not even a full minute later they 

reappeared to her right and she was stunned to see Luis wasn't alone but had Krum and Stark with him. Even in her numb state she knew this was Stark's idea and that the other two had tagged along despite his best effort to get them to stay behind. Luis, she was betting, agreed to go because of Krum.

She shook her head, meeting Stark's eyes and noticed his bleeding lip and dirt smudged face, "You shouldn't have come…"

"Had to make sure you and Harry were okay," he said and spat blood onto the ground, the coppery taste was starting to make him gag.

Her eyes moved past him and she looked at Luis. "You shouldn't have followed…"

"Well…Krum came…so-so…I did too…might have been a bad idea," he mumbled the last part and looked around.

"How noble…" Voldermort spoke, but she kept her eyes on her friends. "You three came to rescue them…very thoughtful of you…but sadly…you're too late…"

He moved away from where he had been standing to reveal Harry, crumbled on the floor like a rag doll, head tilted to the side, pale in his death. She heard them gasp and saw the defeated look on Stark's face and the sorrow and disbelief on Krum and Luis's as Luis shed his tears.

Voldermort smiled at the looks etched on their faces. "The Boy Who Lived…is dead."

Stark shook his head and met the Dark Lord's gaze. "You son of a bitch…"

"You are very lucky I agree with you on that statement, Stark," he nodded his head. "Or it would be your life."

He shrugged. "Not like it already won't."

Voldermort smiled, "Too true, Stark. Too true."

Luis glared over at Stark with a shake of his head. "If I die for this I'm gonna kill you…"

The Dark Lord's eyes flickered to him, "You must be Lagunas."

Even from where she stood Ebony heard him gulp. Voldermort went on. "I have heard so much about you…a member of Dumbledore's Army I see," he said and touched the pendant around Luis's neck causing him to jerk. "Skilled in potions…I no longer have a Potions Master, I am in the market for a new one. You may be of some use to me."

"He is not yours to take and use," Krum spoke out against his fear.

Voldermort's eyes flicked to him. "Ah, yes. Viktor Krum. Karkaroffe's star Quidditch player," he tutted. "Such a sad fate your Head master suffered and such a shame you followed here. I may have needed you for a Death Eater, but alas, it seems you have chosen your side with these others," he waved his hand at Luis and Stark. "Though Luis I have needs to keep, you two…I do not," he shrugged. "Especially a Slytherin traitor like yourself, Stark."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I was never much of a follower. Didn't care much for the in crowd."

"It must have been your sarcastic behavior that got you into the House," he noted.

"My Lord, Ebony is a Slytherin traitor," Bellatrix added.

He growled and spun around, waving his wand in the air and the force caused a cut against her face. She cried out and fell back, lips trembling. "I said do not speak! Ebony is no traitor as your family is. She is Death Royalty and as such she is mine."

Stark's eyes widened and flicked to Ebony. She could barely meet his gaze or stand the shocked look on his face. Voldermort caught it and smiled, eyes flicking back and forth between them. "Ahh…I see…there is one thing that leaves you speechless without a quick remark, that finally puts dread on that face of yours…Ebony is to be mine…"

"You can't have her," he shook his head. "She's not an object you can just take."

"I am not taking her from you though," he pointed out.

"No, but I won't let you take her from the man who loves her either."

"The ridiculous Weasley boy," he snorted. "I will take care of him later…he's of no matter…right now though…I think I will take care of you…_Crucio_," he said and Stark let of a pained gasp, falling to his knees, eyes closed as he clutched at his mid section.

"NO! STOP IT!" Ebony yelled, struggling to get away from the two that now held her.

Voldermort smiled and kept it going while Stark continued to wither from the pain.

"STOP IT!" she screamed and broke free only to be grabbed by two more and a third. She jerked to get away but they kept holding on to her and she wasn't able to break free from their grasp. They were too strong. "STOP!"

"Maybe I should try one more," he pointed at Luis who's eyes widened. "_Crucio_!"

"No!" Krum broke free and jumped in front of Luis taking the pain spell and falling to the ground on his hands and knees as the pain devoured him.

Voldermort chuckled. "How sweet…your friend takes the hit for you…" he glanced at Ebony. "Aren't you enjoying this at all, my Death Mark Princess…"

She shook her head, breathing heavily in anger. "LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

"When I am done I will kill them, I promise," he said as if hurting them was merely nothing and should be nothing to her.

He had killed Harry's parents as if they were toys in his way. He had been responsible for Sirius's death as well as Lupin and Tonks, mere pawns on his battle that didn't matter. He had killed her father in cold blood with no mercy or regret to gain power. He killed Harry without any remorse. He was torturing her friends for the pleasure of it. Stark and Krum still withered on the ground and Luis stood stunned, scarred from his involvement in all this. Her eyes met the pained filled ones of Stark's for a brief moment that lasted forever. He had come to save her and Harry and he was paying for it. For the second time that night he had saved her, he had helped her, and he was paying for it. They all were. They all had.

She felt a gate break open inside her. A strange warmth filled her veins and she breathed it in deeply, taking every ounce it offered into her from that one vent. She could feel the others staying closed but knew she only needed the one…just one entryway to be hers. She shook her head and released her breath along with that gate inside her.

"NOOOO!" she screamed and the three holding her were flung back, colliding with the trees at speeds that would likely maim or kill them. Others around her were knocked backwards by the sudden burst of visible power that shot in a circle from her in a grayish light. The spells on her friends were knocked off with it, not needing to be summoned off, but stopped with her own power.

Krum and Stark lay panting on the forest ground, sweaty and pale from the spell, but still managing to get on their hands and knees. Luis was broken from his fear trance by Ebony's power burst and bent to help Viktor stand, pulling one of the Bulgarian's arms around his shoulders. The boy was too tired and hurt to resist. Ebony moved forward despite her drained feeling and put her hands on Stark's arm, calling whatever she had left from that gate to help her help him up. Stark managed to get to his feet, wincing slightly but better than he had been.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Could ask you all the same thing?" she panted.

"Been better…but been worse," he shrugged.

She glanced at Luis. "What about you?"

He nodded his head, "We're both okay…"

"Impressive," Voldermort spoke and she spun her head around. He was still standing, unlike the others barely getting to their feet the power had not affected him or he expected it. "You will be most useful…grab her! Grab them all."

A pair of hands grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back, Ebony was still too drained from the power show to even fight against it.

"You," he pointed at a Death Eater. "Check, Potter. Make sure he is dead then untie the half giant and have him carry Potter…we are going to the castle to show them what is to become of these four… and what has become of their beloved hero…that I, indeed have won this war."

Ebony felt her heart sink in her chest. She had failed. She had failed Dumbledore, her friends. She failed Harry…and she had failed her father. She wasn't sure which hurt the worst, which pain was greater. But this night had proved that she had failed and lost everything. For her, there was nothing left to lose.


	19. Chapter 19

_

* * *

_

Disclaimer: I only own Ebony, Stark, Luis, and Chelly. The rest is JK Rowling's and the lyrics belong to I Should Have Told You by Fuel

* * *

_After the laughter passes by  
And what remains are shadows of the truth you try to hide  
And for our sins left never reconciled  
The simple truth is hearts were made just to fail  
No matter how we try_

* * *

**CH 24 - For her Father**

Ebony shuffled along with the rest of the Voldermort's followers. Her head hung down, hair blocking out her face and the look of defeat she had etched upon her. She didn't want her friends to see her like this. She had only managed to spare their lives for the time being. She was sure Voldermort would have them killed before the night was over and couldn't bear to look at them. She kept walking, following not far behind Hagrid who carried Harry's body or the Dark Lord who proudly displayed his conquer.

"Is Draco alive?" the man holding her whispered.

Her eyes widened slightly at the recognizable voice. She twisted her head a little to see it was Lucius, his blue eyes pleading with hope. She nodded her head slightly. "Yes…I saved him before I came here…"

His eyes closed momentarily and he let out a sigh of relief. "I wasn't sure…with all the blood on you –."

"It's my father's blood," she spoke lowly, eyes on the ground.

She felt Lucius tense, his hands tightening on her upper arms. "What?"

"Severus is dead…"

"But how?"

Ebony lifted her eyes up to stare at Voldermort as he continued walking ahead, rejoicing in killing Harry. Lucius followed her gaze and took a sharp intake of air.

"He had Nagini kill him…I saw everything…I hoped to kill the snake… and I feared this the most…there's nothing left…nothing…"

She hung her head again, the void inside her growing even deeper.

"Potter's not dead," Lucius said to her in the smallest of whispers that Ebony was unsure she heard him.

"What?" she asked, head lifting slightly, eyes moving to Hagrid's back.

"He's not dead."

"How…?"

"I do not know, Narcissa told me. Do not question it just keep your mouth shut and look upset," he ordered her.

"Not really difficult," she said and looked at her blood soaked clothes.

She was silent the rest of the way, her mind spinning with the news that Harry wasn't dead, he was faking it. But she couldn't understand how. He had been hit with the Killing Curse. She had seen it for herself, been right there when it happened. She decided it didn't matter how, it just mattered that Harry was alive…some hope was still left.

They reached the front of the school, no one was outside just yet. It was empty and quiet. Voldermort pointed to the bottom of the steps that led to the double doors of the Great Hall. "Lay him there…"

Hagrid did as he was told still crying as he put Harry's body on the grass and slowly backed away. Ebony was lined up to the side, able to see Harry clearly. Stark was being held to her left by Reno and Sawyrs. Krum and Luis were on the other side held by other Death Eater's. But all were able to see and be seen as captured.

"Harry Potter is dead," Voldermort called out. "We bring you proof that your hero is gone."

They watched as the doors opened and people filed out in shock and disbelief. Voldermort continued to speak, Nagini slithering on the ground right next to him. "The battle is won. You have lost half your fighters, more are captured awaiting their fates," he gestured his arms out to the four of them behind him, along each side. "My Death Eater's outnumber you and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to fight, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and your children, your brothers and your sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me on the new world we shall build together."

"NO!" the scream was more terrible than Ebony bared to hear and flinched when it erupted from McGonagall.

Ginny screamed next, collapsing to her knees in grief and Ron stared dumbfounded as he held a sobbing Hermione in his arms, her face buried in his shoulder. Chelly seemed paler now as she stared at Harry, tears streaming down her face as another vision had come true. Oliver had his arms around her and she closed her eyes, holding onto him. The Weasley's looked graver even more than Ebony thought possible. Mrs. Weasley looked more broken and George seemed more lost. His eyes met hers and she felt her own eyes water from the pain in his.

"Do you see?" Voldermort said, waving his arm at Harry's body. "Harry Potter is dead. Do you understand now? He was nothing ever but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice their lives for him."

"He beat you!" Ron yelled and others joined in, breaking the silence that had been cast.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," he said over it. "Killed while trying to save himself like a coward!"

Ebony had enough. "THAT'S A LIE!"

He spun quickly to her and she went on, eyes on the people on the stairs, never caring for what he said or did. "He lies! Harry went into those woods to sacrifice himself for all of you. I know! I was there! He died saving all of you!"

"ENOUGH!" Voldermort yelled and grabbed her arm, tugging her free from Lucius and pulling her besides him. He whispered to her first. "If you don't watch your words I will kill your family."

She turned her head, fiery blue eyes meeting his unwavering. "You already did that…I'm all that's left, remember?"

He smiled and turned back to the crowds. "How can you trust the words of a girl who was the daughter of the great betrayer…a liar in her own. For Ebony held the greatest of deceits from everyone, even me." He grabbed her left arm and moved her sleeve down to reveal her mark. "She was born as Death Royalty, the greatest of all darkness that can be bestowed upon someone. She was not Death Eater marked…she was born with it. And with it, she will be my bride."

"NO!" came from George

Voldermort smiled. "Ah, you must be the boy she's in love with…could have fooled me on this night with whom the lucky man was even if I did know," he turned briefly to look at Stark but adjusted his eyes back to George. "How unfortunate for you, to lose your brother and your bride on the same night?"

"I won't let you have her," he said, hands balled into fists.

"My boy, you have no choice. If you fight, you will die and leave your family with yet another dead son…must they lose more…"

George took a step and Ebony shook her head. "No, George!"

He paused and looked at her. She shook her head again. "Don't…not for me…I can't let you die…I can't lose anyone else…"

George swallowed the painful lump in his throat and took a step back, defeated.

Voldermort chuckled, "Smart boy…I regret your loss but I cannot let her power slip me by, it'd be a waste and she's already broken enough as it is," he pushed her back to Lucius who caught her before she could fall.

"You're wrong," Chelly spoke out from the steps. "She's not a liar. Harry did die for us…I saw it…I just couldn't stop it…I'd hoped the others could," she looked at Krum, Luis, and Stark. "But they couldn't."

Ebony frowned as she felt something materialize in her hand. She looked down and her eyes widened slightly when she saw the Sorting Hat. There it was, held in her hand as if it had been there the whole time. She wasn't sure what it meant but knew it was there for a reason. She listened briefly, mind spinning again, as Voldermort spoke.

"Chelly Murillo, yet another whose word cannot be bought. After all your father is Fenrir Greyback…" there were scattered whispers from those who hadn't heard about it and Ebony glanced sideways where Fenrir stood, glaring angrily at his daughter.

Chelly held his gaze without flinching before looking at Voldermort. "So what? My Dad is a psychopathic werewolf. Doesn't make me evil…Ebony's Mark doesn't make her evil. Professor Stark came from Slytherin, but he's not evil…and despite what everyone may believe about Professor Snape, he wasn't evil…everyone has good and evil inside them…all that matters is who you choose to be…I'm as good as they are just as you're as evil as you want to be."

He chuckled. "Well, spoken, Chelly, I may keep you around for the fun of it…if your father doesn't kill you first."

"Let him try," she challenged.

"He'll get his chance," Voldermort promised. "Nothing can save any of you now if you try to go against me…nothing can stop me..."

Ebony felt the hat in her hand get heavier and with a puzzled frown she shifted her eyes to it, no longer listening to Voldermort speak. She gasped as lightly as possible trying not to reveal the shock in her eyes as she saw the jeweled sword handle sticking out. She pushed the hat just under her sweater tunic, trying to steady her heart. She had the Sword of Gryffindor, the power to kill Nagini and with it the last of the Horcruxes. Her hand slowly slid to the handle, moving behind her to hide it.

Lucius shifted to the side a bit, arms loosening around her. With a slight frown she glanced up into his face. He spared her a look and the briefest of nods that let her know he knew she had a weapon and he knew what she wanted to do. With his hands on her upper arms he slowly moved over to stand just behind Voldermort and the now unprotected Nagini. He put her right where she needed to be. His hands loosened more on her arms, making it easier for her to break away.

Ebony waited for her moment, glancing at Harry's body. She now knew that when her move was made, Harry could make his. She took a deep breath just as Neville started chanting "Dumbledore's Army". Her hand wrapped around the sword, the hat falling off and disappearing all together. Moments later Voldermort called for the Sorting Hat and in shock Ebony saw he had it now. She clutched the sword tighter, waiting…and the moment came. Grawp came running from the side of the castle, followed by the giants causing an earthquake like distraction.

She saw Harry pull his invisibility cloak on then as chaos erupted around them and Ebony made her move. Holding the sword tightly in both hands, Lucius's arms dropped from her and she took the three steps needed, raising the sword high before slashing it down with an angry cry, cutting Nagini's head right off as Voldermort screamed in fury. Ebony dropped the sword, letting it fall to the floor with the snake's head. It disappeared before it could clatter and Ebony had no time to see where it went. Voldermort's furious eyes were on her, Elder Wand in hand.

"You stupid girl," he snarled.

"That was for my father!" she yelled, panting.

"You'll see him soon enough," he held his wand out at her and she stood frozen, no time to make her own move, no time to do anything but wait for death.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" he shouted.

"NO!" someone shouted and grabbed Ebony, knocking her to the floor, the green light missing them both by inches. Ebony hit the floor roughly on her side and pushed an arm up under her, turning slightly to see Lucius pushing himself up as well, one arm protectively in front of her as he stared up at Voldermort.

"Lucius," Voldermort said in mild amusement. "Why am I not so surprised? I didn't expect it to be for Snape's daughter…no matter, you're of no use to me as it is. _Avada Kedavra!"_

Ebony flung her right hand up by reaction as the green spell shot at them, hoping to somehow shield them from it while Lucius's arm tightened around her, his own hair spilling in her view as she turned her head down as well…but death never came. They heard Voldermort say it again…again nothing happened. Slowly Lucius's hair moved from her view and she lifted her own head up to see what was stopping the Killing Curse. Voldermort yelled it again and this time Ebony saw the green light come at them but clash into blue sparks with every try, never able to touch them.

"How?" Lucius whispered to her.

Ebony shook her head but stopped. Her ring. The ring her father gave to her. The diamonds were glowing blue, they had never done that before. Every time the curse tried to come near them it would glow brighter with the blue sparks. It was her father's ring that was protecting them, protecting her from any dangerous curse. Her father was still there. Keeping his word. _I'll always protect you_…_you'll never touch my daughter_. She remembered him saying. He had done this for. Died for her, to keep her safe and he had meant it with every ounce of his soul. She knew that now as every green spark he sent at her clashed with the blue of her father's protection, of his love for her,

Ebony let out a small laugh with tears in her eyes and gazed up into the angry face of Voldermort. "You won't win." She turned her head to Lucius. "Let's go find your son." She hurried up the steps and into the castle as fights broke out around them. Voldermort gave an angry cry, neither turned to look back as they found Narcissa, taking her with them. Ebony got them through the front doors where it was safer.

"Go find your son," she told them. "I last saw him on the stairwell on the east side, he's hiding somewhere but if he hears your voices he'll come out."

"Ebony," Narcissa started, touching her arm.

She shook her head. "Not now. Go!"

The two left down the empty corridor and Ebony turned back around to see Luis, Stark, and Krum jogging towards her. Luis more out of breath than the more athletic Bulgarian and teacher. "What would you like us to do?" Krum asked.

"Just defend the castle."

"What…what about Harry?" Luis panted, holding his side from the jog.

"Harry has his own battle to fight."

His eyes widened. "He's alive."

"Thought you figured that out when his body disappeared just now," she snorted.

"He disappeared?"

Stark shook his head. "You really are blind."

"But he was dead."

"He's not," she told him. "And he'll be fine…how did you three get away?"

Krum and Stark gestured at Luis who was grinning proudly. He raised his hand. "That would have been me. I had a few potions up my sleeves…literally. And when you caught off that snake's head, I dropped a few potions and knocked out the two holding us then got Stark loose with a confusion jinx on those other two stupid heads."

"Got more left?"

"A few," he nodded.

"Good, go out there and help them fight they need all the help they-."

"Ebony!"

She glanced past Luis and saw George hurrying towards her. She smiled and moved past her friends to hug him. He kissed her a couple times in his worry. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"Are you kidding," she snorted. "Piece of cake."

"Evil, evil cake," Luis added.

George hugged her again and looked at the others. "Thank you for saving her…"

"No problem," Luis waved his hand like it was nothing. "It was easy."

Krum and Stark looked at him sideways and Stark spoke. "Actually, she saved us."

Luis shrugged. "We helped…a little. We were very stealth!"

"Until someone tripped and gave us away," Stark snorted.

"Hey! It hurt! I was expressing my emotions!" he defended himself.

"Can you do it in a quieter manner?"

"Can we not argue right now?" Krum asked, putting his arms out and separating the two. Stark nodded with a heavy sigh and moved away. Luis, however, seemed to only be quiet do to the close proximity of Krum's hand on his chest.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again," George said.

"Sorry, doll, but you're going to have to," said Ebony and moved out of his embrace.

"Why? Where are you going?" he asked with a frown. She noticed they were all looking at her with a frown.

She pulled her compass out of her pocket and opened it. It was pointing down the hall to her right. "Because I have someone I have to go take care of, on my own."

"Let me go with you."

"No, I have to do this by myself. You all need to go out there and help them. They're outnumbered as it is and you guys are a hell of a lot stronger."

"Be careful," George said giving in.

She nodded, "As usual…have you seen Chelly?"

George pointed down the opposite hall. "She went running that way after the battle started up again. Should I go check on her?"

Ebony shook her head. "No, she has her own demons to fight," she started backing up down the other hall it was leading her to. "And so do I."

They watched her go and then moved back to the double doors that led outside, wands in hand again. "What about Chelly?" Luis asked, doubting on leaving her alone.

Stark shrugged, "You heard Ebony. Chelly has her own demons to fight."

He nodded his head and started throwing off spells once outside. This night was proving to be more than he expected and his only trouble and worry was that it still wasn't over yet.

* * *

_If I don't see you again  
I only hope someday you understand  
Time turns good love to goodbye  
I should have told you  
It's all it would ever be_


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters nor the lyrics from Understanding by Evanescence_

* * *

_The life that flows inside of you  
Burns inside of me  
Hold and speak to me  
Of love without a sound  
Tell me you will live through this  
And I will die for youe_

* * *

**CH 25 – Family Bonding**

Once the fight broke out, chaos seemed to erupt all around. Grawp was swinging and knocking Death Eater's out of the way and parts of the school were blowing off in cement chunks. But she never lost sight of her father in the crowd. She watched as he sprinted around the side of the school and she backed up through the entry way instead of following him around. She'd head him off, they'd find each other, she was counting on it. Chelly left without a word to Oliver, she didn't want him involved in this, not with her father the raging werewolf around. He'd tear him apart just to see her misery before he ripped her to pieces. She couldn't let him get hurt, not for her.

She sprinted down the long corridor, turning down one and running faster than she ever thought possible with her wand in hand. If Luis had seen her there'd have been a joke at her expense as to where the all you can eat buffet was she was rushing off too. Even in this chaos there'd be jokes, but no one was to know where she was going or who she was fighting. This was between her and Fenrir, always had been. And she'd been waiting for this moment too long to share it or have someone finish it for her.

She rounded the next corridor that had the outside wall to the left with the gorgeous view of the trees and the lake just beyond that since it was three stories up. Even now she had to pause to look beyond it…she could see the white tomb in the distance not far from the shore…Dumbledore's final resting place. She rested her hands on the stone railing, this had all started for him. Part of her was angry about it. That Dumbledore could be so selfish as to leave them completely clueless about certain things. About Ebony's Royalty and what that might mean if Voldermort had found out, what power it possessed. About her visions and foresight and how she could change certain things while others were forever fated. About the Horcruxes and what they actually were. About who her father actually was…but then another part of her knew that he didn't tell her because she wasn't ready to know then as she was now. Could she have handled knowing about her visions when she was fourteen? Could she have handled knowing about her father when she fifteen? She wasn't sure, but Dumbledore had been. Never giving her more than he thought she could handle.

"CHELLY!" the voice roared from the opposite end of the hall.

Though her hands tightened on the railing she kept herself calm and turned her head to him. He was panting heavily, sweating and dirty, clothes torn from shifting on and off as he stepped down the hall, one move at a time. She moved away from the railing, standing there. "Hello Fenrir…"

"Don't give me that tone!"

"What tone?" she asked calmly.

"That deceiving innocent tone, you've played all this time," he seethed, hands balling into fists.

"I have played all this time. I played you," she said proudly.

"My daughter," Fenrir spat, spit flying as he spoke so angrily. "A trader to her own kind."

She lifted an eyebrow. "My own kind? And who the hell would that be?"

"Your family! Your heritage!"

"These people, Muggles and goodies alike. I should have known you'd be one of them."

"You don't know me!" she yelled at him angrily, her temper getting the better of her. "You never knew me and I prefer it that way. But I know you. I know that you're just out to help yourself and all your life you've been nothing but a follower. Some guy who thinks he's this big bad ass because people are afraid of him. You pick on weaker people to make yourself feel all fucking tough, you kill _kids_ to feel like a man. Well guess what? You don't scare me."

"I should," he said.

"You don't, you're nothing but a pussy. A coward," she taunted. "You are nothing to me and I'm no one to you."

"You're my daughter," he growled and bent in a crouch to lunge at her. "I created you and I'll kill you." He bolted for Chelly and she smashed the potion in her hand onto the ground creating a cloud of smoke and fell back from it, ducking away from him by inches as he coughed from the inhalation. She watched as he shook his head and rubbed at his eyes trying to rid himself of the fogginess that filled him.

He turned around quickly, knocking her with his arm. She tripped and hit the wall, wand scattering from her hand. Fenrir loomed over her, eyes slanted in his anger, fangs bared. "You are my daughter…the biggest disgrace of my life. You betrayed me."

She shook her head and started backing up slowly, inching her way to her wand, "I can't betray you if I was never part of your life, you son of a bitch."

He let out a roar and lunged at her again. Chelly rolled and grabbed her wand, turning quickly and pointing it at him with as much power she could. "_Stupefy!" _

Fenrir's body went flying back and tumbled too far. He fell off the ledge of the broken castle wall and down to the ground below with a cry that was cut off with a thud. Shakingly getting to her feet, she stepped over and looked down to see his unconscious and battered form at the bottom of the wall. He wasn't dead, she heard the light groan, but by the angle his body was twisted he wouldn't be getting up again, she doubted he'd walk again. She felt no remorse, no sadness for him. But grief over others that had been lost. She ripped the Dark Mark necklace off, almost forgetting she'd been wearing it this entire time. Without pausing to think she dropped it over the edge.

"You're wrong," she spoke quietly to the form below. "I'm not your daughter…you never raised me," a tear slipped down her cheek making a clean path through the dirt and blood. "Snape did."

"Chelly!" she turned around from the ledge to see a relieved Oliver rushing towards her. He put an arm around her and glanced over the side, seeing Fenrir. He let out a sigh and hugged her, moving them both away from it. "You scared me when I couldn't find you."

"I had to do this on my own," she told him, speaking into his shoulder.

"I know, I know. I was just worried."

"You're always worried."

He held her face in his hands and smiled, wiping at a dirt spot on her cheek. "Only because I love you."

She smiled and embraced him again. "I love you too."

"We should be getting back…Harry defeated Voldermort…"

"Good for him," she reached into her pocket, still holding onto Oliver and took out the vial. It still wasn't glowing…but when it did, she knew what she was going to do. She was going to save Snape, not just for Ebony's sake, but for her own too. She slid it back in her pocket. "Let's go, I promise not to run off anymore or do-."

Chelly was cut off by Oliver throwing her to the side and yelling her name. She hit the stone floor on her side and winced and looked up at her boyfriend, prepared to ask him why he'd done that. What she saw she wasn't ready for…

Oliver stared down at the bloody mess on the front of his shirt and the dagger that stuck out. He glanced up at Chelly, mouth open in surprise. Chelly felt like time had frozen around her, she could barely breath, barely think barely move. It was like a dream, a dream she needed to wake up from. She met his gaze in the same state of shock he was in that frozen moment with the blood creating a radiating design on the front of his shirt when he removed the knife. She reached her hand for him and in that moment, reality kicked in. She could hear the silence in the night, the faint cheering in a distance, feel the hard concrete dig into her knees, bruising her skin as she caught Oliver just as his legs gave out and he collapsed into her arms.

"Oliver," she whispered his name as it trembled from her lips. He was still lucid, but barely able to focus on her. "Oliver…please, don't…please…"

"Oops," a voice said from down the hall and she looked up to see Selwyn grinning like a fool. "I missed," he shrugged.

Chelly let out an angry yell and pointed her hand at the dagger. With more power than she knew she possessed she sent the dagger flying back towards the Death Eater. He was caught by the surprise of her magic and didn't have time to block the dagger that sunk into his own chest. All he did was blink before collapsing dead.

She looked back down at Oliver, barely alive in her lap and for once she didn't know what to do. She couldn't stop the bleeding, couldn't stop him from slipping away from her. All she could do was sit there and hold him in her numbness and wait to wake up from this nightmare.

* * *

_Cast me not away  
Say you'll be with me  
For I know I cannot  
Bear it all alone_

* * *

_I'm evil I know it,but not everything can be happily ever after...R&R_


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: I own the same characters as before…lyrics from Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls_

* * *

_So take these words  
and sing out loud  
cause everyone is forgiven now  
cause tonight's the night the world begins again_

* * *

**Ch 26 - It Ends Tonight**

The chaos and turmoil was not lost on the other three. They were in the middle of the biggest battle ever. Everyone around them was dueling Death Eater's and Luis glimpsed McGonagall and Kingsley both fighting Voldermort twenty yards away. His eyes widened when he saw Luna and Ginny fighting Bellatrix, the very bitch who killed Sirius. Chelly would have his neck if anything happened to Luna. But he was a little busy at the moment fighting Rovas, Terx, and Sawyr with Krum and Stark.

They were even so far, blocking spell for spell.

"These guys are harder than I thought," Luis said, countering another spell.

"Well," Stark blocked another. "They are Death Eater's."

"It will take a lot to take all three down," Krum agreed and slanted left as a blue streak shot past him.

Sawyr seemed to anticipate one of Stark's moves and blocked it before sending a spell at Luis. He yelped and ducked. The red spell slid across his hair and he could smell burning. With a shriek he patted at the smoke that rose from his nicely combed and styled hair. His eyes slitted as he glared at the Death Eater's. He'd ruined clothes before, those could be bought and replaced. He'd had cuts and bruises, those always healed and make up could cover anything. He'd been dirtied and sweaty as much as he hated it, but he could bathe and clean it off. But the one thing he took pride in was his hair that he took the most time to fix. Hair took too long to grow back and too long to redo if it was put out of place. It was the one thing he could not forgive if messed with.

"THAT'S IT!" he shouted and rolled up his sleeves. "That's the last straw!" He pointed his wand and let out a ring of spells at once. "_Stupefy_! _Jinx_! _Sectumsempra_! _Jinx_! _Jinx_! _Stupefy_! _Paralyizo_! _Rubberia_! _Stupefy_! _Confusio_! _STUPEFY_!" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of vials, smashing them to the floor. The three who were battered with jinxes inhaled it and all dropped to the floor unconscious some growing flowers on their face other developing boils that pussed.

Luis was breathing heavily as he readjusted his sleeves and Stark and Krum looked both shocked and impressed. Stark gave a whistle of approval and nodded.

"Wow," Krum said in admiration. "That was incredible."

Luis grinned in his pride, hoping he'd hear Krum say that some other time behind closed doors with just the same amount of wonder. "Thanks, no one messes with the hai-."

Before he could finish Krum ruffled his hair and put an arm around his shoulders. "That was remarkable. You were great!"

Luis sighed and rubbed at his hair, trying to fix the disaster. "You're lucky you're cute," he mumbled.

"What did you say?" Krum asked.

"I said those are nice boots," Luis changed his words.

"Ah, thank you. Real leather."

"Really?" Luis asked intrigued now by them.

"We should be getting back," Krum said and patted Luis on the back.

Luis let out an ommphh and fell to the floor from the mere force. He bounced back to his feet and dusted himself off with his good arm. "I'm okay."

"I am sorry. I forget you are not as strong as I," he apologized.

"Oh, I'm strong. You just caught me off guard is all," in the back of his mind Luis was counting the many bruises he'd have on his skin tomorrow from the Bulgarian's encouraging prays alone.

"Uh huh," Stark nodded his head.

Luis glared with his good eye. "Not a word."

"None said on that," he said and gestured to the battles still going on. "I need you both to go help Luna and Ginny with Bellatrix."

"Bellatrix!" Luis exclaimed and shook his head. "No way! She's nuts!"

He rubbed his eyes with one hand. "Fine, then you can go fight Voldermort since I had planned to help them with him instead."

"Nope!" Luis grabbed Krum's arm, already dragging him off towards that fight. "We're on it! Bellatrix it is!"

He could have sworn he heard Stark mumble something under his breath but with all the fighting going on he couldn't be sure. Next thing he knew he was helping Ginny and Luna, now joined by Hermione to fight off Bellatrix, never moving too far from Krum's side but close enough to Luna to make sure she wasn't in too much danger.

Luis's attention was suddenly diverted as Bellatrix shouted off the Killing Curse and it missed Ginny by inches. What happened next shocked him the most.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "OUT OF MY WAY!" she shouted, moving through people, wand pointed at Bellatrix.

Krum pointed his wand now that her attention was on the Weasley mother. She shook her head at him. "No! She's mine!"

Krum dropped his wand down and took a few steps back, moving Luis and Luna with him as they watched the battle.

"What will happen to your children when I've killed you," taunted Bellatrix. "When mommie's gone the same as Freddie?"

"You – will – never – touch – my –children – again!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. Bellatrix laughed, the same exhilarated laugh Luis recognized when she had killed Sirius Black and suddenly Luis saw what was going to happen. Molly Weasley's curse flew through the air and hit the unsuspecting Bellatrix in the chest, directly over her heart. Her smile froze on her face and her eyes seemed to bulge in surprise as she fell down motionless.

Voldermort screamed, not too far away as he saw it happen. Luis turned to see Stark, McGonagall, and Kingsley blasted backward by Voldermort's fury. He pointed his wand at Mrs. Weasley and Luis's eyes widened right before Harry stepped in, "_Protego!" _

A shielding charm was cast around her, blocking his spells. People around were whispering in shock at Harry being alive and he addressed them. "I don't want anyone to help. It has to be just me and him."

Voldermort hissed. "Potter doesn't mean that. That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," he said. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives. And one of us is about to leave for good."

"One of us," jeered Voldermort. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident was it, when my mother saved me?" asked Harry. They were standing in a perfect circle, on opposite sides, everyone around them watching in silence. "Accident when I decided to fight you in the graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight and still survived?"

"Accident and chance!"

"You think you're more powerful than me," Harry said.

"I am. I have a weapon far superior to yours," he said. "I brought about the death of Dumbledore!"

Harry smiled. "You thought you did but you were wrong."

"HE'S DEAD!"

"Yes, he's dead…but you didn't have him killed. He planned his death months in advance."

"What childish dream is this?" he asked.

"Severus Snape was never yours," Harry said. "Snape was Dumbledore's…from the moment you started hunting down my mother. Snape was Ebony's…from the moment she was in his life and gave him reason. And you never realized it, because you can't understand. Did you ever see Snape's Patronus, Riddle?...it was a doe. Like my mother's because he loved her all his life. Didn't he ask you to spare her?"

"Because he desired her, that is all."

"Of course he'd say that. He was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her and he's been working against you ever since. He thought he was done the day my mother died, that his life was over, until he got Ebony and she became his daughter and he loved her as much as he loved Lily…he died _for her_ tonight…he prevented you from taking the one thing he had left in the world that he cherished by laying down his life…and he didn't kill Dumbledore for you…he killed him because Dumbledore asked him too."

"IT MATTERS NOT!" Voldermort shouted causing Luis to flinch and grab Krum's arm. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's. I crushed them all. Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me. He intended that Snape be the true master of the wand. But I got there ahead of you. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago and the Elder Wand became mine."

"The wand still isn't working though, is it?" Harry asked. "Severus Snape was never the true master of the wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed-."

"Are you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore. Dumbledore's death was planned between them. Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master. You don't get it? Possessing the wand isn't enough. Holding it and using it doesn't make it yours…the true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."

There was silence and Luis saw Lucius and Narcissa move Draco behind them across the way, hiding their boy for fear he'd be killed.

"But what difference does it make," the Dark Lord said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, you no longer have your Phoenix wand. We duel on skill alone…and after I have killed you, I will attend to Draco."

"But you're too late," said Harry. "You missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took his wand from him. So it comes to this…Does the wand in my hand know it's true master was disarmed? Because if it does…I have the Elder Wand…"

A red glow burst across the enchanted ceiling as the edge of a dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. Both duelers let out their spells at the same time.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

"_Expelliarmus!_"

The bang was like a cannon blast and Luis winced at the sound as the two spells collided. Voldermort hit the floor, arms splayed, eyes rolling upward. He hit the floor dead and Harry stood there staring down at his enemies shell. There was one second of silence before the screams and cheers hit the air. Luis was literally bouncing up and down in joy, hugging Luna before turning and hugging Krum who lifted him off his feet and spun him around once before putting him back on the floor. It was over, he realized, the nightmare was finally over.

* * *

_I wish everyone was loved tonight  
and somehow stop this endless fight  
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days_


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: I only own Stark, Ebony, Luis, and Chelly...the rest are JK Rowlings. The lyrics belong to Fuel from Won't Back Down_

* * *

_I won't back down  
I will not bow  
(I've come to bring you hell)  
I can't forget  
Things you did  
(I've come to bring you hell)_

* * *

**CH. 27 – Ebony's Fight**

Ebony hurried down the corridor and paused down the long stretch of hallway that wasn't far from where the battles were raging on. She spotted who she wanted, trying to make his escape out of the back route of the school. Like hell she was letting him leave.

"YAXLEY!" Ebony shouted and he turned around.

"Ebony," he said with a smile. "What a pleasant surprise...your father must be so proud…too bad about him though." He shrugged his shoulders like it didn't matter. For him it didn't. She knew Yaxley despised her father for being more favored by Voldermort. Neither knowing Snape despised Voldermort just as much nor that he played double agent for Dumbledore, where his true loyalty had always lie. "Sorry to hear that."

"I bet you are…bet you were real sorry when you killed Remus Lupin, too."

"The werewolf weakling?" he asked with a laugh. "Yes, it was amusing to see him die and then top it off with his little pink haired wifey getting killed right after him…to see her die for your brat of a friend only to die next to her husband."

"I'm going to be just as amused watching you die," she seethed.

"Really?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "Did they mean that much to you?"

"They were my family," she spoke through gritted teeth.

He chuckled. "Then it really has been a bad night for you, hasn't it?"

"I could say the same for you since you're running away from the fight. Bet Voldermort would _really_ appreciate that."

"What would you know? You're a traitor."

She shrugged. "I'm also Royalty. More than I can say about you."

"You insolent little bitch!" he hissed and pointed his wand at her. "You don't have a wand to be speaking that way…I should hand you over to the Dark Lord for what you've done."

"You can if you want, he can't hurt me, can't touch me. Besides, you'll have to explain why you were running away from him and I think he'll do worse to you than what I would."

"What could you do? I repeat, you – don't –have – a – wand."

"I don't need one," she said, and clenched her fingers.

"What will you use? Your Death Royalty mark?"

"I wouldn't waste it on someone like you, Yaxley. You're not worth the headache," she snorted.

He growled, "_Crucio_!"

Ebony dodged to the right, missing the spell by inches just as Yaxley called out another. She jumped to the left this time, barely getting out of the way and made a slicing motion through the air with her hand. "_SECTUMSEMPRA_!" she shouted and the diamonds glowed. Blood flew from his neck in an arch as his throat was ripped by the invisible blade.

Yaxley dropped his wand before dropping to the floor with a look of shock on his face.

She stared at him for a moment, "That was for my Uncle and his wife…"

With that said she turned and walked away back to the entrance hall and leaned into the Great Hallway, arriving just in time to see Harry defeat Voldermort and the cheering to occur. It was over…Voldermort was dead. She crossed to where the dead were kept and leaned heavily against the wall. Just the mere sight of her father's body caused a small sound to escape her throat. She slid down the wall til she sat there, arms resting on her drawn up legs. Voldermort may have been dead but she was still living in her nightmare, one she could never wake up from.

* * *

Stark walked down the hall, wincing slightly at the pain in his leg from landing hard after Voldermort's fury backlash. One minute he was dueling him with McGonagall and Kingsley the next he was trying to remember which way was up and what year it was. He was going to be sore later after he slept this off, but there was still work to do, even with the battle over. That was the easy part, he'd been in enough to know that, it was the aftermath that hurt the worst. He passed families bustled together in mourning over losses or in thanks for those who lived.

He kept walking until he entered the room where most of the dead were put for the time being. Rows upon rows of them, great losses in one night and even more before this night. There was some comfort in knowing Voldermort would never be able to do this again. He kept walking down the wall until he came across the girl he was looking for.

Ebony sat with her back against the wall, near no one. Her jeans were covered in dried blood along with her tunic sweater and blue top, shades darker in places. Most of it had flaked off her hands, leaving dirt in its place but the smear on her cheek from where Snape had touched her was still there. She looked broken, legs folded under her partially, hands in her lap staring at nothing he could see. He sat next to her, wondering if she knew he was there.

"It's over…" she said, keeping her eyes straight ahead.

He nodded. "Yeah…it is."

She twisted her engagement ring on her finger, then started twisting her father's ring on her other hand. "Then why don't I feel like rejoicing with others…I should feel like being happy with everyone else…but I'm not…and I can't try to be…"

"I know…it's understandable, Eb…"

"I've lost people before," she went on. "My mum when I was younger, didn't care much for her though, evil bitch, she was…then I was taken from Sirius…but I had Snape…and then I got Sirius back…and he died...and I felt sad, but at the same time I didn't because I had my Dad. Snape was my Dad. I was okay…and then last year happened and we were separated and I was sad but I knew it'd be okay because I'd get him back…and I did…," she looked at Stark. "Did you know I just got him back a few hours ago?"

"No…"

"I did. Chelly and I showed up here not long before all this started," she motioned around the room. "And now…it's over…everything is over…"

He cleared his throat slightly. "I tried looking for you in the fall, to check in on you…but you weren't home."

She shook her head. "No, we left my house and went to Grimmauld Place. We barely left tonight and," she let her hands slap onto her thighs. "Here I am…"

"You did good, Ebony…you saved a lot of people tonight."

"I didn't save my Dad, Stark. The one person who mattered. It shouldn't be like this, they should be alive. Tonks and Lupin and Fred…Snape…I didn't get to say good-bye…I didn't say good-bye to anyone."

"Hey," he put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "You're Dad loved you, he died to save you. And, yes, it is tragic, but do you realize how many more people would have died if he hadn't given up his life for yours…Draco would definitely be dead, so would Lucius and Narcissa. Luis and Krum would be dead and that goes for me as well…and who would have cut Nagini's head off? It would have been so much more different if you had died with him or had Voldermort been able to kill you…a lot more people would be grieving and who knows…we might not have won at all…"

She shook her head with a light smile. "You always have an odd, messed up way of making things look brighter."

He nodded his head, "I take pride in it."

"You sure you're a Slytherin?"

"That's _why_ I'm a Slytherin, because it's still messed up."

She shrugged in agreement. "Can't argue."

He stood up and held his hand down to her. "Come on, let's at least get you standing."

She took his hand and moved up to her feet, unable to stop herself from looking down the row at her father. Her heart seemed to sink deeper into her chest. Before any emotion could bubble forth another person was calling her name.

"Ebony," she turned to Lucius Malfoy and closed her eyes with a sigh, rubbing at her forehead.

"Yes, Lucius?" she was very aware of Stark standing right next to her ready to jump in if he had to.

"I just wanted…to thank you," he said with a pause as if it were too painful to apologize and with his ego it probably was.

"Thank me?" she frowned. "For what?"

"For saving Draco…"

She shrugged, "It was just the right thing to do."

"You didn't have to though, not with the way we've treated you all these years."

"No I didn't have to, but I did…whether I like it or not he's family…and I have less and less of that nowadays."

Lucius looked grim at the mentioned and glanced over at Snape's body. "I am so sorry for your loss, Ebony."

She shook her head, holding her hand up. "Not right now, please…I appreciate it, just not now. I have enough to deal with on my own without hearing this, I'm just waiting for everything to crash on me."

"I understand, I just wanted to thank you…and hopefully start over," he held his hand out to her, waiting for hers to shake it, to clear the past for the future. This man wanted to wipe the slate clean, the very man who would insult her and mock her at every turn, whose son tried to _kill_ her in the past. She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook his hand. She had no family left to spare.

Lucius gave her a small smile but for once she saw he meant the sincerity in it as he walked away. She ran her fingers through her tassled hair, still keeping her emotions aside. Stark shifted slightly at her side and his hand touched the back of her shoulder. "Do you want to go see him now?"

Ebony froze with her hands on the back of her neck and nodded slightly. "Yeah…I think so."

Slowly, she walked to where her father lay, her heart beating harder with every step until she thought it might burst from her chest. She froze three yards away, unable to move closer.

"I'm right here," Stark told her.

"I know…I just can't…not now…" she whispered and turned her head away, looking the other direction and catching Neville and Luna coming through the door straight at her. Blood smeared the side of the Gryffindor's face from fighting and Luna looked unharmed. Both seemed to be in a hurry to get to her.

"Ebony," Neville said once close enough to be in hearing range. "I'm sorry to interrupt you but…but Chelly needs you."

"Tell her I'm in here," Ebony said, not entirely wanting to leave the room and her father completely.

"She's not listening to me…she needs you." It was the urgent desperate note in his voice that made her spin around eyes wide.

"Is she hurt? Is she okay?"

"No…she's not hurt…but she's not okay," Neville bit his lower lip.

"It's Oliver," Luna answered bluntly. "He's dead, Ebony."

Ebony felt the breath catch in her throat and ran with more energy than she thought she could possess. This nightmare never seemed to end.

* * *

_For all the scars that never heal  
All the wounds that will not seal  
I will not forget the day  
These memories never fall, yeah_


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: Nearing the end of the book but the continuation of some of the after math for the characters...but its not the end yet...what will change...lyrics from One Republic - All Fall Down_

* * *

_If ever your world starts crashing down  
Whenever your world starts crashing down  
Whenever your world starts crashing down  
That's when you find me._

* * *

**CH. 28 **

The war that had gone on for decades was over. Voldermort was dead. Many cheered the victory before the unsettling reality of the situation set in casting a grim glow in the rising of the sun with the turn of a new day and with it a completely different world. It was safer than the yesterday world, but the losses were great and the damage was irreplaceable. Ebony would know, she had suffered enough devastating blows to scar her soul into the next lifetime. As she approached the corner that led to the next hall, she could only think of the loss that was just around the corner, another mark to her psyche and a gaping wound to her best friend's.

She came to a skidding halt and heard others behind her stop running as well, but didn't turn to see who it was. The scene before her was enough to take in as Chelly sat holding Oliver's body in her lap, mirroring exactly how Ebony had been with her father just hours before. Except now she was seeing it from the other point of view and it hurt just as much. He was dead. She had been friends with Oliver for nearly as long as she had been with Chelly. Even practically babysat him for her when she was off in America because, the fact was, Oliver had a bit of a tendency to always get hurt in Quidditch. Usually took one or two bludgers during a game, though Chelly was the one usually sending them his way during a versus match.

He lay there in her lap, pale and colorless except for the blood that stained through his dark blue shirt, leaving a darker ring that spread out through the hole in it and created a small puddle on the ground under his body. Gradually, Ebony kneeled down next to Chelly, her pants seeping with her friend's blood, creating another stain she didn't notice.

"Chell," she put her hand on her friends shoulder and held back her tears as she looked down at Oliver's pale face. "Chelly?"

She looked up at her, seeing her for the first time since she got there. "Eb…hey…"

"H…How did this happen, Chell?" she wasn't sure if she'd get much of an answer given the shock she seemed to be in, not fully grieving over what had happened, pushing it back as Ebony had.

"I- I was fighting my dad…but he's not my dad…not really…and I hurled him through the wall…and- and Oliver showed up and he asked if I was okay and I said yeah and he kissed me and hugged me and then he threw me to one side and…and…he was bleeding and Selwyn was standing there laughing and…I killed him," she glanced across the way where his dead body lie, a dagger sticking from his chest. "I killed him because he," her voice started to break as tears refilled her eyes. "Because he killed Oliver…and…and it's my birthday, Eb…it's my birthday…"

"It'll be okay…somehow it'll be okay," Ebony said though she didn't believe the words she spoke. This birthday would haunt them all for a long time, a shadow that would forever linger on them.

Chelly nodded quickly and moved her hand to Ebony's, putting an object in it. With a frown Ebony looked into her hand and her breath caught in her throat. The Reviving Potion was glowing. "It's working," Chelly spoke. "I-I want you to use it on your dad."

Ebony's head shot up, eyes wide, searching Chelly's face. She remained passive though her eyes were revealed how dead she was inside. "Chell…"

She shook her head as fiercely as she had nodded, hair falling in her face. "No, no…I had decided to use it on Snape before…" her hand clutched at Oliver. "I can't go back on my word. I won't. You need to save your Dad. You've gone through enough, save him…it'd be selfish of me to…to bring him back," tears slid from her eyes and fell to Oliver's face as she leaned over him again, crying quietly.

Ebony put the vial in her pocket for now and put her hands on Chelly's shoulders. "Chell…come on. We have to take him to the hall, with the rest."

"I can't leave him here," she cried now, clutching to his body tighter.

"We aren't going to," she promised and wondered for a moment how they'd get him back. She had forgotten she'd been followed until Stark kneeled down next to them, a solemn expression on his face.

"I'll carry him," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah I can do it," he said.

"But you were hurt."

"Just bruised, nothing I can't handle…neither of you can carry him. I've known Oliver since he first came here…I'll do it, besides you have to handle Chelly. That's heavy enough for you right now."

She nodded her head and stood to her feet so Stark could take her place. She knelt over, Chelly, hands on her shoulders, coaxing her to let go of Oliver. It took ten minutes to get the sobbing girl to release him and cling to her instead so Stark could lift him in his arms. Chelly had her face buried on the top of Ebony's shoulder, holding onto her arm. Stark walked just behind them so Chelly wouldn't have to see her boyfriend's lifeless body in the professor's arms. Ebony just rubbed her friend's arm, mumbling words that she was sure she didn't hear and didn't matter anyway. None of this mattered she realized. The war was one the world was safer, but what was the world without the ones you loved in it?

They approached the Great Hall and the room of death, Ebony had dubbed it. Luis was talking away with Krum ahead of her, a smile on his dirt smeared face. He turned and saw them, his smile falling as he saw Stark. "Oh my God," Luis whispered, his uninjured hand to his mouth. Even Luna, usually happy and giddy even in the face of danger, buried her face in Luis's good shoulder, grimmer than earlier when she had delivered the news. He dropped his hand and put it around her, careful not to brush the bruise along her face and not caring about the blood seeping into his shirt from her busted lip. He felt tears stinging his good eye and felt an arm go around his shoulders. He turned his head back enough to see a solemn looking Viktor standing next to him, his arm around him in comfort. Had it been any other situation he'd have been giddy with glee, but now was not that time.

Stark laid Oliver down a few yards away from where Snape lay. Luis was at they're side already and Ron and Hermione had gathered with George and Harry in tow.

"What happened?" Luis asked.

Ebony continued rubbing Chelly's back while easing her to Luis's arms instead. "Selwyn, a Death Eater, killed Oliver after she killed Fenrir, least I'm pretty sure he's dead, if he's not well then he won't be a threat ever again."

"Oh, Chell," Luis murmured hugging his friend.

A hand touched her arm and Stark spoke, "You look as bad as you feel."

"Which is to say you look like hell," George said from her other side. "A very pretty hell."

She snorted slightly looking down at her clothes and all the blood and dirt. "Not a bad representation."

"What collection do you have going?" asked Stark, trying to take her mind off it all. He felt she was on the verge of a meltdown.

She held her arms out, "Let's see…I'm a CSI's worst nightmare. I've got everyone from Luis to Oliver to Yaxley-."

"Yaxley?" he asked with a frown.

She nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, I ripped his throat out with a spell. Blood kinda splashed on me from it," she gestured at the top of her baby blue shirt.

Stark looked over at George in wonder and he shrugged, "That's my girl."

"Just don't piss her off and she won't rip your throat out," he mumbled.

"I even have your blood, Stark," she said.

"Mine? Really?" he questioned intrigued.

"Yeah, from when I helped you up to your feet and your lip was bleeding."

"You don't have mine," George whined.

"George, I had yours on me months ago, I'm good."

"Did you piss her off?" Stark asked.

He shook his head and gestured to his missing ear, "No, her dad. He always threatened to rip my ear off and he finally did."

Ebony felt glum again. The rest of the blood on her was her father's. She reached into her pocket and took out the glowing vial.

"What's that?" George asked.

"It can fix everything…" she simply said and turned to her father's body for the first time since the Shrieking Shack. She moved over to where he lay on her own, Stark and George staying back, sensing she needed to do this on her own. He looked so pale and peaceful laying there. It had only been four hours ago that he was ripped from her life and she felt that pain of knowing she'd never see him again. Except now she could. She had the power right in her hand and usually she wouldn't have hesitated so long to save him and bring him back to her, to make everything right again. But she was. With a frown she looked over her shoulder at Chelly, sobbing still, but kneeling on the floor holding Oliver's hand. She turned her attention back to her father, pulling the cork out slowly. Chelly had said she could after all. She told her to save Snape, knowing Ebony needed him in her life. She had no reason not to go ahead and save him.

She stopped before it was removed, staring at her father, tears in her eyes. It wasn't right. She couldn't do it. She couldn't be that selfish. He'd be disappointed in her if she did. With a sob of a sigh, she pushed the cork back in. He was dead and would remain that way. Ebony stared at her father, tears brimming her eyes as she felt her heart crack in two once more, her hoping fluttering away as she closed her eyes and spoke loud enough for Chelly to hear. "Save Oliver."

"What?" Chelly questioned turning her body around to face Ebony.

She stood and moved the few feet to her, pushing the vial into her hand before she lost her nerve to do so. "Oliver, Chelly. You need to save him."

"But…Eb…"

She shook her head. "Snape would have wanted it. He'd want you to be happy. He wouldn't want you to sacrifice your happiness for him…he couldn't live with that. He'd hate me for doing it."

"He's your Dad," she reminded him.

Ebony opened her eyes, a tear falling down her cheek. "And Oliver is the love of your life…I couldn't live without guilt if I let you do this, it's too selfish. Oliver is young, he has his whole life ahead of him…and my Dad died a hero…I'm not taking that away from him."

Tears fell down her friends face in a mixture of sadness and relief. "Thank you…"

She nodded and moved back, blending with the others who huddled around Oliver as Chelly uncorked the glowing vial. She tipped the liquid into Oliver's mouth and waited. They all watched as color came back to his face and first his hand twitched around Chelly's before his eyes blinked open. He blinked a few times and frowned at everyone gaping at him and staring.

"Umm…did I miss something?"

Chelly laughed in her tears and flung herself at him as he sat up, nearly knocking him back down, he patted her back. "You okay?"

"I am now," she kissed his face over and over.

Oliver smiled with a chuckle. "Wow, I need to die for you more often."

He landed sideways as Chelly smacked him hard. "No! You are never EVER doing _anything_ that stupid again, you retard! You stupid Gryffindors are the dumbest people I have ever met!"

"Ow," was his only response as he rubbed the side of his face, sitting back up only to have her kiss him over and over again, a look of confusion on his face.

During their reunion, Ebony had managed to slip away unnoticed, backing out of the room carrying the dead after giving her father one last goodbye to retreat into her room down in the dungeon area. She couldn't deal with crowds right now or sorry looks. She needed to be as alone as she felt.

Luis glanced around the crowd and noticed one face missing. He looked over to Professor's Snape's body but Ebony was nowhere in sight. With a slight frown, he took a step back but a hand on his elbow made him stop. George shook his head. "Let her go…"

"But she's alone somewhere after all this," he nodded towards the bodies of her family members. "She shouldn't be by herself."

"She's alone because she wants to be," George reminded him and rubbed at his tired, bloodshot eyes. "Because she needs to be."

"You're not going after her?"

He shook his head, "I know better than to do that."

"But you're her fiancé."

"Yea, I know that…but she just lost her entire family in less than a day…Ebony isn't the mourning in public type…she needs to be alone for awhile and I can guarantee she wants to see none of us even if we are her friends."

Luis shook his head but stayed put having decided there was no sense in arguing about it any further, especially with George who just lost his brother, the other half of him. Ebony should be here with him, with all of them.

"Besides, you look like you need to be finding the Hospital Wing judging by the looks of your arm," said George.

Luis glanced at his ripped arm and winced, now he was feeling the pain since his adrenaline had worn off. "Why is it always my arm," he groaned.

Hermione put an arm around his shoulders. "Come on, we'll all go with you, God knows we need to." She herself had a gash above her eyebrow and had a limp in her left leg.

"I'll help you," Viktor said aloud and Luis grumbled for a minute. Of course, the Bon Bon was going to help the pretty hurt girl, even after all Luis did for him. It just figured that – but to Luis's surprise Viktor grabbed Luis's arm and not Hermione's. "You saved my life after all. It is my fault you were hurt."

He giggled a little despite himself. "It's no big deal, I've had worse…seriously and its always to this arm."

"It was still my fault."

"You saved me though, we're even," Luis pointed out and wanted to kick himself. He could have played that off to the hilt with the guilt trip.

Krum smiled. "I feel I still owe you."

"Okay," Luis smiled brightly, eyes pretty much turning into hearts and he had to fight the urge to lean his head on Viktor's shoulder. That would be petty and childish…though he did fake tripping twice after it resulted in Krum's arm going around his waist to help him walk…it was more intelligent thinking than pettiness, he was a Ravenclaw afterall.

One by one they filed out, Chelly holding onto Oliver as if she'd never let him go again, though not strangling him or smacking him anymore after he promised to not do it again. Harry paused as the others left, glancing back at Snape's body and shifting his eyes to the ground as he struggled with the dilemma to follow his friends or go elsewhere. With a sigh he turned and headed in the opposite direction down the other hall.

* * *

_Know that we all fall down  
Love till you hate  
Strong till you break  
Know that we all fall down_

* * *

_**New chapter coming soon...R&R in the meantime**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Disclaimer: I own the same characters as before.This was one of the most emotional scenes I wrote and I listened to this song on repeat to get the mood exactly…song is Rie Sinclair – Underneath the Night. Very short chapter…**_

* * *

_Underneath the night  
I cannot stop these tears from falling  
Like pouring rain  
Knowing there's a time  
Here and in heaven  
To be with you again  
Don't let this moment fade_

* * *

**CH. 29 - GRIEVING**

Ebony lay on the couch in the chamber she had always shared with her father. The one place she felt safe and warm, second to their own house. But it didn't feel warm anymore. It felt cold and dead, as if all life had been robbed from it. She stared at the fire in the hearth, not surprised its blazing heat did nothing for the chill that covered her from the numbness that had sunk into her chest and filled her being. She had trudged down the stairs and corridor like the waking dead, never saying a word to anyone she passed in the hall who tried to give her their sympathy. She didn't want it, didn't want their words or their condolences. She wanted her father back. And no one could do that for her so she wanted the next best thing, to be left alone.

Part of her felt guilty lying there in her own pity over her dad's death when her fiancé and their family had taken a blow in losing their son, George's twin brother, Fred. She wished she could console him, help his mother…but it wouldn't be real and she wanted to mean it. Right now, she didn't. She had lost Sirius two years prior, watched his death as well when he fought and lost to Bellatrix. She had lost her Godfather, Remus Lupin, just hours ago and felt sorrow for him and his wife, her cousin, Tonks, and her godson, Teddy who would grow without ever knowing his mother and father. She felt sorrow for them…and guilt for not grieving as much because the only death that weighed her down, that sunk her heart and stole her happiness was that of Severus Snape.

It was her worst fear come to life. She had had boggarts turn into this very living nightmare in the past…and now it was real. She couldn't spell it away. She couldn't wake up from this, she couldn't turn back time…he'd still remain dead…or she'd end up dead with him…part of her wished for death. Just to be with him again. But that would be selfish. She still had George to love and Chelly and Harry and Luis and Stark and Teddy and she wouldn't let her father's death be in vain. He had died for her instead of running and she would not let her life end so easily after he had sacrificed his in turn. He could have fled, could have Disapparated, but the minute Voldermort threatened her life, he stayed. He sacrificed himself and she had to keep living. But she would miss him, God, how'd she miss him.

Her eyes burned into the fire, but it didn't stop her grief as she lay there, curdled up on the couch in her dirty clothes. She wiped a hand across her cheek and her fingers came back smeared watery red. The dried blood on her face was wiping with her tears. Blood…her father' blood. She touched her cheek where his hand had been just hours ago as he let out his last breath and died in her arms that were still caked with his dried up life. With much effort she forced herself to sit up, but kept her eyes downcast. She wasn't sure she could stand to look at his chair that sat by the fire or his seat at the dining room table. Her heart couldn't take much more and the shock was soothing to her for the time being. Feeling nothing but the numbness was better than the heart ache and pain that she had first had and she didn't want to risk feeling that again.

She started walking towards her room and paused. It didn't feel right to sleep in there, to even lay in there. It just felt empty. Her head turned, staring at the stone ground that led to the other room, her father's room. Her hand turned the knob before she even realized she had walked the distance to his door and pushed it open.

Ebony was greeted by his scent and closed her eyes cherishing the comforting smell. She climbed onto his bed lying diagonally across it, too tired to correct herself and grabbed one of his black pillows, burying her face in it, rubbing against it like a lost kitten. And she was, she realized, lost. She had always had him to turn to, always had him to count on, even in her darkest hours she knew there was a light because she'd always be going back to her dad. She had him to look forward to after school and when she started working there, she had him to look forward to seeing even after the murder of Dumbledore and the accusations. Because she _knew _she'd find him…and now…no matter how hard she searched or how long, she'd never find him again, never see him or have him to look forward to. He was gone. Her father was dead. And she was alone, lost, without him.

Her vision blurred with tears and she let out a sob, burying her face in his scent as the pain overwhelmed her again and the hurt over knowing he wouldn't be there to comfort her as he had the last time she cried. All Ebony had was his room to be the comfort she so desperately needed, his pillow to be the arms she needed to be held in and it wasn't enough for her.

She felt the bed move and lifted her head from the pillow enough to see Harry. She blinked a few times, unsure of the tears clouding her vision were causing her to hallucinate images…but it was him. He moved further up the bed and touched her shoulder without saying any words. Ebony opened her mouth to ask him why he was there, why he wasn't with Ginny and her mourning family? To tell him they needed him more but all that came out was a gasping sob as tears flooded her eyes again. Harry moved his hand to fit around her shoulders and pulled her to him. Ebony laid her head on his chest, abandoning the pillow to lay against others while her hand balled in Harry's shirt and she cried, his other hand going around her to rub her back as his chin rested on her hair.

No words were needed to undo the ill tidings that had been paved over the years between them over her father. The fact he had followed her, that he was there in her father's room with her was all the apology she needed and her tears were enough forgiveness on both parts. But no amount of crying or comfort could undo what the night had done. They had won the war, but lost so much more and nothing would ever be the same.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Disclaimer: I only own Ebony, Chelly, Luis, and Stark…this is now awhile after the battle...lyrics from Natalie Merchant's song My **_

* * *

_I've been treated so wrong  
I've been treated so long  
As if I'm becoming untouchable  
I'm a slow dying flower  
Frost killing hour  
The sweet turning sour  
And untouchable_

* * *

**CH 30 – THREE MONTHS**

Time passed…it was already August, three months to the day of the end of Voldermort and the end of her world. Life went on for everyone. Chelly had moved out of her house and bought a house with Oliver in Spinnet's Way now that he was playing for the Irish in Quidditch as their Keeper. It didn't stop Chelly from still working as part of the Order, but also accepting the position of Transfiguration Teacher at Hogwart's in the fall, less than a month away.

Ebony had been given a position too. She remembered being called in by McGonagall with Chelly a couple weeks ago and going up the spiral staircase to sit in front of the old desk just like she used to, awaiting her new orders. Some things never changed she found. And the more things changed, the more things stayed the same.

"I'm sorry to contact you both on such short notice, but I felt you were the two I could trust most with these jobs," McGonagall had said.

Chelly looked eager, her hair was a lighter color with blonde highlights running through it while she sat in her light blue jeans and blue top with a dark colored blouse over it. "What jobs?"

"I'm assuming, of course, neither of you are currently working," McGonagall said.

Chelly shook her head, "No, Oliver's playing Quidditch now so that's bringing in enough money to hold us steady and I help the Order out still."

Ebony shrugged her shoulders, hunched down in the chair, feeling as dark as she looked, she gave a bitter smile that didn't reach her cold blue eyes, "My Dad's death left me with enough money to last, who knew there'd be a plus side to it?"

McGonagall winced at the words, still feeling guilty over never believing her when she had told everyone her father wasn't working for Voldermort. Ebony smiled, pleased with the reaction. Chelly fidgeted next to her, glancing at her to get her to stop.

Chelly spoke, "What did you have in mind?"

That took the new Head Master's mind off things, "Well, I need a new Transfiguration teacher, and I was wondering, Ms. Murillo, if you would be interested?"

Her eyes widened and she smiled, "You bet I would!...do I get my own living quarters this time?"

"As Head of Ravenclaw, you certainly do," McGonagall nodded.

Ebony closed her eyes and leaned her head into her hand, she knew what was coming before McGonagall even spoke. "And Ebony, I was hoping you could take the position of Dark Arts teacher…"

She didn't expect that, she lifted her head up slightly. "Who is teaching Potions?"

"Professor Stark is teaching Potions…I thought you might be interested in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts…you have the most experience in this field than others."

She lowered her eyes to the floor. "Do…do I get the same room?"

McGonagall nodded her head, "Yes…unless, of course, you want a different room in which case I can oblige-."

"No," she cut her off. "No, it'll be fine…I'll do it."

"And you'll be Head of Slytherin."

She laughed bitterly, "Of course, I will…why not…least there's no Dark Lord I can be connected with anymore, although my Mark won't ever go away," she rubbed absent mindedly at her arm.

The Head Master nodded, "I understand, Ebony, and I will be forever sorry for what happened and for not believing you…"

She nodded her head, wanting to be angry and bitter but unable to say the words, "Thank you…I appreciate it…"

She left the room with Chelly, declining her offer on lunch and going back to her home where she stayed for the next two weeks, ignoring the ringing phone and the letters that came from various owls or the messages that tried to come through the fireplace. She had closed herself off from everyone outside, talking to very few people who dropped in and ignoring them enough with the television on that they eventually gave up and left, including George who she felt the most guilt over. She did bring herself enough to cuddle with him on the couch, enjoying his company enough to feel a bit more human only for the fact he was experiencing a pain like hers with the loss of Fred. He, unlike some, could understand her pain. He was still working with Percy and Ron now at the Weasley shop that was blossoming more than ever. He told her that Ron and Hermione were hitting it off well and were both getting jobs at the Ministry. Ginny and Harry were doing well, it would be Ginny's last year at Hogwart's and Harry was working on being an Auror. She let him know that Luis was off traveling with his new boyfriend he was apparently keeping secret for now. She showed him the two postcards she had gotten so far. One from Rome the other from Disney World in Florida.

He didn't stay long either. Just gave her the same speech of if you need me I'm here. She nodded and he left and here she sat on the couch staring at the TV though she wasn't sure what was on, didn't care much for it either. She had her legs drawn up close to her, chin resting on her knee. Her eyes drifted to her Dad's lounge chair. She let out a breath and laid her forehead on her knees. The pain wouldn't go away…it never did. She thought it would have settled by now, at least enough that she could breathe again. She thought after the funeral it would be easier. After burying him in Spinner's End right next to Lily Evans that it would be okay…but it wasn't. He was still gone and nothing would change that, nothing would take that pain from her.

There was a knock on her front door and she didn't move. Just sat there, thinking of her father, hoping the person would go away…until she heard the two familiar voices.

"Maybe she's not home," she heard Chelly suggest.

"No, she's home. Trust me, I'm her neighbor. I haven't seen her leave in weeks," that would be Stark.

"Maybe you should open the door."

"Me? You should do it."

"Why me?"

"You're closer to the door."

"You're older."

"You're her best friend."

"You're her neighbor."

"You've been through more together."

"You had a crush on her for two years."

Stark was silent with no comeback and Ebony even had to let out a little laugh and shake her head that still rested on her knees.

She heard a smack sound and heard Chelly say, "Ow! You jerk!"

"Sorry, thought you were able to foresee things, guess not."

"I'm foreseeing you being turned into a turkey, you son a bitch!"

"You must be psychic, you knew my mother was a bitch."

"Just open the damn door," she grumbled.

The door opened a moment later and she heard the two carefully walk into the house and step around the couch. She heard them shift back and forth and their whispered mumbles until Stark spoke. "Hey Ebony…how's it going?"

"How's it going?" Chelly mumbled under her breath. "Real smooth…"

"Then you try," he hissed back.

"Fine," she hissed then spoke clearly. "How you feeling?"

"How you feeling?" he criticized. "That's better."

"I don't see you-."

"You do realize I am in the same room with you two and I can hear really well, even through closed front doors," she lifted her head up to see the two looking sheepish over that conversation. "To answer your questions its going great and I feel wonderful, can't you tell? Especially today…"

Chelly nodded her head slowly, "I know…it's Snape's birthday…"

"Sure is…" she leaned her head back on the couch.

"We wanted to come see you, so you wouldn't be alone…" Stark said.

"Maybe I want to be alone, no offense…"

"We didn't think you should be," said Chelly.

"Why? Because my dad should be here but he's not because he's buried in Spinner's End and died hated by so many people until they found out the truth _after _his death. That he wasn't a bad guy but a hero who made the sacrifice to live his life in a huge lie except to the very few who knew him, actually _knew him_. Not the man he pretended to be, but the man I knew and the father I knew and loved. Is that why I shouldn't be alone?" She took a deep breath and leaned forward, putting her face in her hands to calm herself. Her emotions were starting to get the best of her again.

"It's okay, Eb," Chelly said softly and put her hand on her back.

Ebony shook her head. "It's not okay. Nothing about this is okay."

"It will be," Stark said.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" she asked heatedly, tone as aggressive as her anger. "Why does everyone keep looking at me like I'm broken?"

"We're not treating you like you're broken," Chelly shook her head and rubbed her hand on her back.

Ebony slid out of her grasp, standing up and pacing. "Yes you are. All of you keep looking at me as if I'm supposed to fall apart any moment now. You keep tiptoeing around me, giving me those stupid smiles and asking how I am every time I move past you. And if I hear one more person tell me how sorry they are I'll curse them. I'm sick of it."

"They're only trying to help you," said Stark.

"Bugging me every time they see me is not helping."

"They just want to make you feel better. To help you in any way they can."

"No one can help me!" she yelled and even Chelly jumped and Stark took a step back. "My dad is dead. No one can fix that, no one can change it. He's gone. And I'm sorry if I can't bounce back from that. I'm sorry that I can't help anyone right now with their problems because I have my own to work through. I can't just move on from this and go back to living the way it was because it'll _never_ be the way it was. Lupin is gone and Tonks is gone and Fred is gone."

"No one's asking you to jump back from this, Eb, or to make things the way they were," said Chelly.

"No…but everyone's expecting it. Everyone needs me to be the strong one and help them through their grief. I got over Sirius in a matter of a week, so why not move on from Snape's death in three months? He's dead and buried in Spinner's End and now I'm to teach Dark Arts like nothing ever happened and stay in the same chamber I used to share with him like he wasn't murdered and I'm supposed to live in this house like he didn't bleed to death in my arms," her voice started to crack with her emotions but she held back the tears. "Like any day now he's to be coming home…and some days when I first wake up, when I do get to sleep, I forget it ever happened…for those few minutes he's still alive…and then I remember he's not coming home ever again."

Chelly and Stark stared at their friend, feeling the stab of pain in their gut that was minimal to what Ebony was feeling. Chelly moved to hug her but Ebony stepped back, face losing emotion once more. "Just go home, Chelly," she turned her back to her, staring into the TV. "Go be with Oliver. Go be with your family. Both of you, just go."

"You need us right now."

"Right now I need to be alone," she told her. "Go be with them while you still have them."

Chelly nodded her head and grabbed her coat off the back of the chair and slung her purse over her shoulder. She paused at the door with her hand on the knob, Stark stayed put. "Take care…and don't forget, you have family too still. You have a fiancé who loves you, a Godson who needs to know you, cousins who are trying to change, and a brother who never stopped loving you. Don't forget them either. You still have them."

Ebony listened to the door shut. Even with the closing of it she didn't lose her demeanor. She sunk back onto the couch and twisted the ring on her finger as she listened to the TV drone on. Stark grabbed the remote and turned it off. "You have a way of chasing people off."

"Could have sworn I said I wanted you both to leave," she said.

He shrugged and tossed the remote back on the couch near her. "Yeah, well I never listen and you need to be less bitter to your friends. I know this is a hard day for you and we just want to help make it a little bit easier," he said seriously with a stricter tone. "We can't change anything, we can't make it go away but it doesn't mean we don't want to help take your mind off things."

"Little hard to do that."

"I know it is. But we're here for you. And in case you forgot, a lot of people are still alive because of what your father did, mainly you, okay. You're still alive because of him, so why don't you try living it and not making what he did a waste. You have family who love you and a fiancé who's waiting to marry you. Don't waste it."

She chuckled humorlessly. "Get out."

"What?"

"Just get out, Stark. You don't get it so get out."

"Get what?"

"Have you lost anyone in your family? Because I don't recall that ever happening to you but you stand here talking to me like you know exactly how it feels. See, Chelly has right too. She killed her Dad. Snape's death affected her too and she lost Oliver for an hour…so she can say it, _you_ on the other hand never lost anyone you loved," she said coldly. "You're life has been pretty good. Got your Mum, who yeah I agree, is a bitch but you still got her, you got your brother, and your father though he lives in New York, he's alive. I'm not that lucky. So don't stand there and talk to me like you know how it feels and that you can just get up and move on because you have no idea what you're talking about…so please just leave."

He nodded his head and headed for the door but paused long enough to talk to her, "I may not have lost anyone close to me, but I almost lost you and for some reason, it feels like we're still losing you…"

The door shut behind him and Ebony sat there in silence and grief in the darkness, wondering how many more bridges she was going to burn before she was literally all alone.

* * *

_O, I need  
The darkness  
The sweetness  
The sadness  
The weakness  
I need this  
I need a lullaby  
A kiss goodnight  
The angel sweet  
Love of my life  
I need this_

* * *

**R&R in the meantime**


	26. Chapter 26

**_Disclaimer: I still only own the same people…lyrics from the Corrs – My Father's Wings_**

* * *

_If you were with me now  
I'd find myself in you  
If you were with me now  
You're the only one who knew  
All the things we planned to do_

* * *

**CH. 31 – **

It was a week until she was supposed to head to Hogwarts and prepare her classroom for the new school year. She wasn't sure she'd be able to do it. Not in the class her father had taught in and not in the room she had shared with him. Being in her house was hard enough, she didn't live there as much as she did at the chambers in Hogwarts. Most of her life had been spent there with him…and now she was alone. She was already packed, sitting on the couch still wondering what to do, if she should call it quits or not. If she could speak to her father this would be so much easier.

A knock sounded on the door and she sighed, "Come in…" She knew better than to say otherwise or nothing, they'd still come in regardless.

Footsteps sounded around the area until the person stood near the couch. "Ebony?" Lucius said warily.

"Hey Lucius," she droned, eyes never leaving the fire place or the cold fire she had burning to keep the room cool in the August heat.

He waited for her to say more but when she didn't he carefully sat down next to her, afraid that any rash movements would snap her out of her daze and into something much worse. "I take it you're not doing very well."

"What was your first clue?" she muttered.

He ignored her sarcasm, much used to it by now from years of having to deal with her in harsher ways. The new found tenderness and concern for her well being was new to him. He wasn't used to such emotions when it came to Ebony. But everything had changed that night a couple months back. Nothing would ever be the same again. She was proof of that. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It could be the dark spots under your eyes or the paleness of your skin that screams obvious."

"Maybe I just have really messed up eyeliner on."

"Or maybe your nightmares aren't letting you sleep."

She turned her head to him, eyes wide in surprise. "How do you know about my nightmares?"

"Because you just told me."

She shook her head mildly, eyes back to the fire. "Who sent you here? Chelly? Stark? George? I doubt Harry called you or Luis for that matter."

"No one sent me. I came on my own free will."

"Why bother?"

"Because you're worth bothering about," he argued back. This could go on for hours and again he was used to arguing, especially with her. Though he doubted she could argue much longer with her fatigue. However she was a Snape and Black ran in her blood so he wouldn't be surprised if she debated until the sun came up.

She ran a hand over her eyes. "I want to be alone."

"You've been alone for long enough."

"I don't feel like company."

"That's lovely to hear but I refuse to leave."

She let out a heavy sigh, hand falling onto her lap. "Go home, Lucius. Go to your family."

"I am with my family."

Ebony's blue eyes shifted to him sadly and he waited for her reaction. He expected a snappy comeback or a bitter remark. "My family is dead. I'm not your family."

"Maybe you're not directly linked to me, but you are linked to Narcissa and Draco and that makes you part of my family," he set his cane down near the couch and sighed, clearing his throat slightly. "I was your father's friend for a very long time. We go way back into darker things that I am no longer proud of and…and I see now that he was the stronger one. He managed to realize his wrongs before I ever did. He changed into a better man, a very clever man to have had the Dark Lord fooled for so long. And a great man to have raised such a radiant girl such as yourself. I regret that my family and I treated you so poorly for so long. I was blinded by it all…honestly I didn't start rethinking everything until you literally knocked some sense into me," he smirked at her and saw a faint smile on her face as she recalled the night at the Ministry when she had decked him with the power punch. "I realized then that what I was doing…wasn't right. That the Dark Lord didn't care for anyone but himself. And I cared all too much for my family whereas the Dark Lord slaughtered his own and was bent on destroying families. Much like he did to Potter and Longbottom…and you. You sacrificed so much to help annihilate him, more than you ever should have had to bear witness too. Especially when it came to your father. I don't know how I became so lucky, with everything I've done, to have my family safe and sound when it was over. I'm internally grateful to you for saving Draco, for getting us to a safe spot. I owe you for the rest of my life."

"I'm not a charity case. I don't want any pity."

"No you're not a charity case or someone to pity. You are my friend's daughter and as such I feel in my heart, yes I have one," he added with another smirk and saw her scoff a little, "that I should help you in any way I possibly can and be there for you. Not as a stand in or a replacement for Severus – no one could ever replace him and I dare not even think of trying – but as a family you can come to, Ebony. I'll be here for you when you feel ready for it. Because right now I imagine it's the last thing on your mind and you just want to figure out how to make it through the day…or the school year. I know it'll be difficult for you, but you are a Snape and much stronger than you think. I believe that you can rise above this and live through this. I believe you will make your father very proud with what you can do, and how capable you are."

He said what he had to and watched as she just stared at the fire. He sat back against the couch next to her and watched the flames as well wondering why he never took time to realize all these things sooner. It was the little things in life that mattered. No matter how many expensive things you owned or what position you stood in amongst others, it couldn't give you what mattered – and that was family. He didn't know what he would do if he had lost Narcissa or Draco the way Ebony had lost her family and all the others she had loved. He was willing to bet she would trade everything she owned to have him back, if only for a day.

He was knocked from his thoughts by her movement and froze when she leaned her head on his shoulder, shifting to become more comfortable. He forced himself to relax and get used to this kind of reaction from her since he was now part of her family. He was guessing Severus had always been there for her to lean on. He wouldn't have thought it by looking at the man that he was this kind of a father. He had taken him for strict and unfazed, but then again how could Severus ever be that way with her when his absence caused such a reaction in her.

"I miss him," she spoke quietly.

Lucius moved his arm around her, feeling a bit awkward since he was never so comforting with his own family. "I know and you will. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But it hurts. It actually physically hurts."

"And it will, but you will see that the pain will become less and less by the day. It won't hurt as much someday."

"I wish he was still here…I don't know what to do anymore…"

He nodded his head with a sigh, "You know…I find talking to the ones we loved to be comforting."

"He's dead, Lucius."

"I know that but just because he's dead doesn't mean he can't hear you."

She sat back up, staring at him with a frown. "You think?"

"I've heard heaven is a place nearby…I'm sure he can hear you and if Severus was to be watching or listening for anyone, it would be you Ebony."

She nodded her head, "I'll have to try that…"

"You should," he said and stood up to leave, having done what he needed to do to make her feel better. "I should be going. I'll write to you while you're at Hogwart's to see how you are fairing."

Ebony stood to see him out and paused, conflicting with her thoughts before giving in and hugging him. Lucius tensed at the sudden embrace, unsure of how to respond. "Thank you," she said.

He felt himself relax and patted her on the back. "You're welcome…try to cheer up a bit, smile more and soon you'll see that you actually mean it."

He left with that and Ebony stood there, hands in her pockets, looking around the room. Of all people her father could send to guide her he sent Lucius Malfoy. She chuckled to herself and started packing more, she had to admit, her father still had a sense of humor.

* * *

_I will fly on my father's wings  
To places I have never been  
There is so much I've never seen  
And I can feel his heartbeat still  
And I will do great things  
On my father's wings  
_


	27. Chapter 27

_**Disclaimer: Nearing the end of a looonnng series…but no worries I have some AU's for Ebony and friends that go back to Goblet of Fire…I own my four…lyrics from Vienna Tieng's Harbor…Ebony and her Dad's song**_

* * *

_Sail your sea  
Meet your storm  
All I want is to be your harbor  
The light in me  
Will guide you home  
All I want is to be your harbor_

* * *

**CH 32 - HARBOR**

The chambers felt as hollow and empty as she remembered them being months ago when she had fallen asleep in her father's room next to Harry. She hadn't returned since that day. She had somehow hoped the vacant feeling would have faded out in the time, but it only seemed to have deepened in the sorrow of the months. When she had first moved back in three weeks ago, she had used her ring to unpack the clothes she brought with her to spare herself the agony of those happy memory photos she could no longer stand. She hadn't been able to sleep in her room, much less enter her father's room. She slept on the couch in front of the fire, it hurt less that way.

She sat there now, on the couch, unable to sit in her old chair since it faced her father's. At least this way she faced the fire place. She couldn't figure out what to do now. It all felt hollow. It felt useless. She was just going through the motions, unsure of how to restart her life, of how to be a human being again. She turned down invitations to dinner with Chelly and Stark. She spoke little to George when he came to visit her. She didn't know how to move from here. How there could even _be _a here without her dad. She wasn't even sure what she was doing here. She taught her classes day by day with no interest in anything she was doing. She refused to answer questions anyone had of the mark on her arm and kept it tightly covered in her classes. She didn't know what to do. Part of her wanted to turn back and go home, but she couldn't. Her pride wouldn't let her. She was her father's daughter after all and that meant doing the job given to her no matter what the cost. And the cost was feeling heavy as she sat there, like a weight on her shoulders she couldn't remove. It felt like a part of her was gone and she'd never get it back.

The door to the room opened and she didn't have to turn her head to know it was Stark. She could smell his cologne as he walked in the room. He took a seat next to her without asking, draping his arm over the back of the couch and stretching his legs out in front of him. "So, how's your classes going?"

"Okay."

"Any problems?"

"No."

"You feeling any better about being here?"

"I'm okay."

"Says the zombie girl," he snorted. "You can't even look at me when you talk."

She turned her head to face him, just to humor him. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You haven't been fine in months, Eb. I can tell you want to run out of here and never look back but you can't because you'd just be disappointing yourself."

"Who are you? My psychiatrist?"

"No, I'm just your friend, it's cheaper that way."

She shook her head looking back at the fire. "I just don't know what to do…I don't know how to do this…I can't think of where to start to move on…"

Stark moved back to his feet before Ebony could register his movements. "Come on," said Stark, grabbing her hand in his and pulling her off the couch and out the door before she could ask the question on her mind.

"Where are we going?"

"To do something therapeutic," he said which answered nothing for her. He kept a firm grip on her hand almost as if he expected her to try to break away at some point as he led her down hallway after hallway and up two different staircases until finally they reached a door at the end of a long corridor. He pushed it open and stepped inside, moving her to stand in front of him as he shut the door behind them and put his hands on her shoulders guiding her forward.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw the reason for coming to this room. The mirror of Erisd stood to the wall on the right, its brass frame and Latin writing taking up enough space to make a difference. It was facing forward so she couldn't see into it and was glad she couldn't. She could feel her knees weakening from the mere sight of it.

Ebony stared at the mirror, looking at it from the side, unable to see her heart's desire in it. She didn't want to. She knew what would be staring back at her. She shook her head, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Because you need to look in it."

"No, Stark, no. I can't, this won't help anything…"

"Yes, it will," he said and she felt something metal put in her hand. It was the Sword of Gryffindor. He hadn't had it when he came to see her, so why was it here now. "Because you're going to break it."

Her eyes widened and she turned her head up to him. "Break the Mirror of Erisd?"

He nodded, "It's okay. You're not going to get in trouble. In fact, McGonagall had this on her to do list and when I brought it to her attention that you should do it, she agreed. I even left the sword in here for you."

"Why?"

"Because she felt it was the best way for you to help yourself. By seeing what you've been wanting to…and letting it go."

Ebony's throat tightened and her heart beat faster as Stark, with his hands still on her shoulders, moved her to stand in front of the mirror. She had closed her eyes somewhere in-between it all. "Open your eyes, Eb."

She shook her head, her hair falling in her face. "I can't…"

"Yes, you can. Open your eyes," he said and she felt his hands leave her shoulders.

"Aren't you going to stay with me?"

"I'll be right over here," he said from a distance of a few feet. "You need to do this on your own."

"Stark…"

"You're stronger than this. Open your eyes."

With a deep shaky breath, Ebony opened her blue eyes and saw her father standing next to her, his dark eyes meeting hers, causing her breath to hitch in her throat and her free hand to cover her mouth to stop the sobs. There he was standing right next to her in the reflection in his dark robes with a slight smirky smile. The smile and face that haunted her dreams and waking thoughts.

"Daddy…" the word came out in a sobbed whisper.

He nodded his head and put his hand on her shoulder. Her hand moved to where his hand should have been but wasn't and she reached out touching the mirror where he was. He looked the way she remembered, from the last time she saw him alive. He was right there in front of her, smiling sadly as his hand rubbed her shoulder and she felt the void inside her deepen.

"Now do it, Eb," she heard Stark say.

She shook her head. If she broke the mirror she'd never see her father again. He'd be gone from her forever. If the mirror stayed she could still see him, be with him every day and it wouldn't hurt anymore. She'd still have him in her life.

"Ebony…" Stark repeated.

"I can't…"

"Do it, Ebony," he said again. "You have to do it for both of you."

Ebony lifted her head up, tears forming in her eyes. One hand was still on the mirror the other tightened around the sword. She met her father's eyes and the tears fell freely as a sob escaped her, her heart tightening in her chest. He was here, right here, but it wasn't him…it was only what she wanted to see. Her father was gone, not stuck in some mirror. "I'm sorry…"

He nodded his head with the sad smile as if agreeing to what she had to do and he removed his hand from her shoulder in the reflection. Ebony took a step back, both hands on the handle. She let out another sobbing breath and lifted the sword. With one last look at her father as he closed his eyes she swung the sword, the blade crashing into the glass. The sound of breaking filled the room as the glass tumbled to the ground in shards of shiny rain, making twinkling noises as it hit the ground. The sword fell from her fingers as she stepped back, crunching the glass beneath her feet. The frame stood empty now with only little bits stuck to the elegant frame. Her father was now gone with the mirror destroyed and though she was saddened with never being able to see him again, something lifted in her chest. Nothing of great proportion, but enough that she could take a deep breath and it didn't hurt as much. She brought a hand to her mouth and let out another sob, closing her eyes with it. She felt Stark pull her close to him, hugging her and she buried her face in his shoulder, crying.

"You did it," he told her calmly. "You did it. It's done now."

"He's gone, he's really gone."

"He was never in that mirror, Eb. It's why you had to break it. It shows you what you want, not what's really there. Your Dad is always with you. You don't need a mirror to show you that."

She sniffled, her tears slowing down. "Thank you. For making me do it."

He rubbed her back. "I didn't make you. You did it on your own. You could have easily dropped the sword and said screw it, but you didn't. You did what you knew you had to."

"Thank you for suggesting it," she said and moved away from him.

"Did it help?"

She looked at the shattered glass of dreams and wishes, that was a mirage for the pain and damage it really was. She had destroyed the last images of being with her father in that moment and though it hurt, something eased. "It made a difference."

He nodded his head and gestured at the door. "What do you say we go back to our rooms? I'm sure you need some time alone after this…see if you can't do a little more healing of your own tonight."

"Not a bad idea," she nodded numbly and followed him out. They parted ways at the staircase and Ebony went back into the chambers. She leaned heavily against the door, the image of her father still fresh in her mind. It hurt. She didn't want to admit how much it had hurt to see him after all this. It wasn't her father, she knew that, but it still had looked like him. It was what she wanted most in her life. She wanted her father back…and she could never have him. She moved sluggishly across the room and paused in front of the couch before looking at her chair and deciding to sit there at long last.

Ebony sat in her chair across from her father's, the fire blazing in the hearth that did nothing to warm her or take away her cold. She glanced at his empty seat and felt the pain in her chest deepen as she knew it would. Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision as she met the seat with unwavering fierceness, unsure of how she was supposed to "heal". The tears spilled over, sliding quietly down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, adjusting herself in her seat, tucking her legs under her. She listened to the nothingness in the room and wished desperately to hear him, just one more time. Even if it was something cynical or sarcastic, at least it would be his voice. But there was nothing. The room was empty except for the sound of the fire.

She rubbed at her forehead, leaning her head in her hand and tried not to cry but couldn't help the continuing tears that seemed to come endlessly. It was still no easier than it had been when he died and the night had only added to it. The pain had not lessened any and being in this chamber didn't help but not living there hurt worse. There was no middle ground, no safe haven, nothing that could get rid of it.

She sniffled and lifted her head up, once more looking at his chair, her eyes flickering to his bedroom door. She remembered what Lucius had told her a little over a month ago. That just because he was dead didn't mean he couldn't hear her, that he wasn't still around even though he couldn't be seen…that it might help heal some of the hurt if she talked to him. And what better time than after destroying the image in the mirror.

"Dad?" she said out loud, unsure of where exactly to focus her attention, her eyes wondered around the room. "I-I don't know what to do…you're not here anymore and I can't…I can't do this," her tears fell faster now as she thought of what to say, her sobs breaking her words. "I can't figure out how to keep going without you. I can't figure out how to smile again or how to be happy with you gone. It's just so hard and it hurts so much. It doesn't stop. It's like…like this void in me that I don't know how to fix. You've always been here and now you're not. And I can't…I don't know what to do. I need you. I don't understand anymore, I don't know how to help...I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I was right there…just a few feet away and I didn't do anything. And now I've lost you again except this time I can't do anything. I can't take off and try to find you. I can't bring you back. I'm so sorry."

She took a deep breath and let out another sob that seemed to tear from the deepest part of her. "It's not fair…I just got you back. It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to beat Voldermort and clear your name and everything was supposed to be perfect again. We were gonna go to Disney World in the summer again with Chelly and Oliver and George and Luis. Just like the last time. And then we were going to plan my wedding and have you spend all your money on it so I could have the perfect dress and the perfect ceremony as I married my perfect guy despite what you thought," she smiled a little only to have it replaced with more tears. "But how can it be perfect with you not there to walk me down that aisle? How can anything be all right again without you here? It's so empty…everything is empty. You're supposed to be _here_. With me. Not dead. This wasn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to die. You weren't supposed to be there. Why were you there? Why didn't you fight back? Why did you leave me alone? I'm not strong enough. I don't care if you thought I was, I'm not. I can't do this. I lost everyone, Dad. I lost Sirius and Dumbledore and Uncle Lupin and Tonks and Fred and you. So why did you leave? How am I supposed to do this?...Did you know when I had to face a Bogart it would turn into you dead? Did you know my worst fear was losing you? And now it's happened. My worst fear has been realized and I was there. I think that makes it so much worse. Because I was there and I couldn't save you. I blamed Harry at first. Said it was his fault because he stopped me…but it was my fault. I could have made him let me go. I'm stronger than he is…and I didn't. I let it happen. I let him kill you and I'm so sorry. I miss you, Dad. I miss everything about you…but I hope you're okay…I hope you can at least see Lily again…because if you're happy then maybe I can be a little happy too. As long as you're okay…even though you're not here sitting with me. I at least have the memories, at least had you for as long as I did…even though I wish it was more…I love you, Dad. I wish I had told you that before you died. I wish I had told you more when you were here. I just don't know what to do or how to move on without you."

Ebony buried her face in her hands, her tears continuing as her words ran dry from talking to him though no one was there. Her emotions got the best of her as she cried from talking to the nothingness that refused to speak. In the distance she heard a click and heard a piano playing through the speakers as lyrics spilled from the stereo system. "_We're here where the daylight begins. Fog on the street light slowly thins. Water on water's the way. Safety of shore line fading away. Sail your sea, meet your storm. All I want is to be your harbor. The light in me will guide you home. All I want is to be your harbor_." Her CD player had started by itself. She hadn't touched it, hadn't even thought of turning it on and of all songs it played _Harbor _by Vienna Teing. The very song she had danced to with her father at the Yule Ball. She took a gasping breath as her tears fell and glanced around the room. No one was there. It was only her. And no one knew of this song but her and her father.

Ebony's tears fell again but for once it wasn't in sorrow, but happiness as she laughed through them. Her father had heard her. Somehow, somewhere he had heard her speaking to him, and like always, he had listened. And, like always, he showed her the comfort she needed. She felt a little piece of that void fill and a little piece of the pain fade away with the other from the night. Yes, he was dead…but he wasn't completely gone from her. As she settled into her chair, hanging her legs off the end as she twisted her ring on her finger she found that to be true and smiled for the first time in a very long time.

* * *

_You've got a journey to make  
There's your horizon to chase  
So go far beyond where we stand  
No matter the distance  
I'm holding your hand_


	28. Chapter 28

_**Disclaimer: Almost done…own the same four the rest belong to JK Rowling. Lyrics from Always Know Where You Are – Goo Goo Dolls**_

* * *

_It's good to see the sun and feel this place  
This place I never thought would feel like home  
And I ran forever far away_

_And I always thought I'd end up here alone_

_And I found something that was always there  
Sometimes it's got to hurt before you feel  
But now I'm strong and I won't kneel  
Except to thank who's watching over me_

* * *

**CH. 33 – One Week Later**

Ebony had finally managed to clean the chamber and enter her father's room to clean it. She left everything in its place there. Though she felt better, it didn't feel right packing his things away. She talked to him more often now, walking around the room, speaking out loud to no one at all but knowing that he heard her somehow. The kids in her classes had noticed the change in her behavior as well as she had entered class two days after her "therapy".

She'd been standing at the front of the class, going on about the Unforgiveable Curses with her fourth years when a student raised their hand. "Yes, Gus?" she asked.

"I have a question, not sure if you'll like it though," he said.

"Go ahead and ask," she told him.

"You were there at the battle right?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I was." That caused some whispers.

"Well…uhh…did you see any of the curses used?"

She nodded her head, "Good question. I've seen them used many times. I've used the Cruciatus Curse a few times," more whispers started and she smiled at their shock. "I've had it used on me as well."

"How did it feel?" this coming from a Ravenclaw named Angie.

"It hurt," she admitted with a slight chuckle. "It hurt a lot. Feels like your blood is on fire and that knives are poking at you."

"What about the Killing Curse?" Thomas asked.

"I've never used that one," she shook her head.

"Did you see it used?"

She nodded her head, thinking back to Sirius, "Yes…I did…it killed someone very important to me right in front of me. There were just gone the next minute, it's that fast…and it was used to kill my Uncle Lupin and almost to kill Harry."

"What about your father?" a student asked and the room went silent everyone waiting to see her reaction, holding their breath.

She licked at her lips. "He's used it before."

"Was it used on him?"

She shook her head, "No, no he wasn't killed by a curse. He was killed by a snake."

"Is that the snake whose head you chopped off?" another asked excited.

She chuckled. "Yes."

"Was it used on you?"

"Almost," she admitted.

"How did you survive it then?" this from Gus.

She smiled at the memory and twisted the ring on her finger. "My father saved me."

"I don't get it…"

"My father died saving me from Voldermort," she said for the first time. "He gave up his life to save mine because Voldermort threatened to kill me if he ran. Because he did that, Voldermort couldn't touch me with any curse or spell."

"What about your mark? I heard you had a mark."

She nodded. "I did…it's not quite there anymore," she removed her watch and bracelet from her wrist and showed the skin. There was a faint discoloration where it used to be.

"What was it?"

"It was called a Death Royalty mark. It's because both my parents were Death Eaters. It's rare to come by, but I was born with it."

"What does it do?"

"It used to burn when Voldermort was around."

"Does it burn anymore?"

She smiled tracing the skin. "No, it hasn't hurt in a long time."

"What else did it do?"

"Gave me a power boost. I think I can still do that. That doesn't go away. Nothing goes away."

"Like your dad's protection?"

She nodded her head with a smile still, "Yeah…it never goes away."

She dismissed class after that and presented herself at lunch for the first time since she started working causing Chelly to drop her fork in shock and Stark to stare in wonder as she sat with the two of them and had a pleasant conversation. It was almost the same look of shock that was on George's face when she visited him in Diagon Alley and pulled him into a kiss over the counter, telling him she was feeling a lot better. He didn't push it any further, he had just smiled and kissed her again, glad to have his fiancé back.

Ebony now sat on the couch, laying across it and reading a book from her father's collection. Wedding magazine lay on the table, different pages marked and bent and highlighted in different parts. She had told George he needed to stop by to help pick out the final decisions on certain things. His mother was more than happy to have the wedding at their house again, and she knew better than to argue. Now she just had to finish picking bridesmaid colors. She was thinking every bridesmaid had to wear the same style dress in their house colors. That way there wouldn't be too many arguments. But that was enough of that. She had picked up one of her dad's books and started reading something more interesting.

She was half way through the book when she heard footsteps outside the chamber door and tilted her head slightly to listen better, sitting up. Someone was definitely coming to visit, but no one was opening coming in. The footsteps stopped just outside the door.

"Why don't you knock?" she heard a voice say and recognized it as Luis. He must have been back from his vacation momentarily.

"Why don't _you_ knock?" another voice, sounding like Chelly. Ebony leaned her chin on her hand, listening intently to the conversation with a smile. She wondered if this was how her father reacted every time she and Chelly played this game, listening with keen amusement to the slight fear outside the door. She took it as an honor that she was now getting the same treatment. Like father like daughter, she mused.

"Because I've been gone for the last four months, duh," Luis quipped.

"All the more reason you should knock."

"She sees you on a daily basis, you knock."

"That's just more reason for you to do it."

"You used to live here."

"You haven't seen her in months."

"You are her best friend."

"So are you!"

"I'm her best guy friend, that's different. You have the same girl parts."

"What's that have to do with anything!" Chelly hissed.

"You have more in common."

"Anatomy does not count. You knock!"

"No, you were buddies with her Dad."

"You and her hung out a lot. You even went to save her with Stark and Krum."

"Yeah, well…you helped her out in the Ministry battle."

"So did you!"

There was a pause, "Ohhh yeeaa. The pretty glowy sphere things…those were nice."

"So knock!"

"No, she lived with you for awhile."

"Her dad fixed your eye."

"She gave up saving her Dad to save your boyfriend."

There was another pause, this time from Chelly as she finally lost a round of "you do it" for the first time ever…way to go Luis. "Shit…" There was a knock and Ebony waved her hand, opening the door. The two came in and were shocked to see her smiling at them, amused as ever.

"Hiya," she smiled.

"Hi Ebony…" Luis said and looked around. Apparently they were expecting her to still be depressed. "How are you?"

"Way better as you can see. How was vacation?"

"Brilliant!" he grinned and came into the room. "Just got back from Greece and – oh my God! You're looking at Bridal magazines!"

"I am getting married you know."

"When?"

"Soon," she said and Chelly plopped down next to her.

"Who's your Maid of Honor?" Luis asked, flipping through the magazines.

"Who do you think?" Chelly snorted.

Luis immediately pouted. "What about me? I'm you friend too."

"I know," Ebony said with a roll of her eyes. "That's why you're a bride's maid."

His eyes lit up and he launched from his seat on the floor to hug her, thankfully she was used to this by now and just let him hug her in his death grip. "Yay! A bride's maid! So exciting" he backed up and she was amazed at how fast he could become serious as he started listing demands on his fingers. "Okay, first off, I don't do pastel colors and I _refuse_ to wear a tie. And I _absolutely _refuse to wear something that makes my ass look bigger than it already is or something that doesn't compliment my ass at all."

"You're ass already looks big," Chelly snorted.

"My ass looks better in these jeans than yours does on a good day," he snapped back to her and continued with Ebony. "And you have to have good music and food and a free bar."

"Deal," Ebony shrugged.

"_And _I get to bring a date," he added on the last stipulation.

"Anything else?" Ebony asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did you want your own limo or honeymoon suite?"

"I'll get back to you on that, but I'm good for now."

"Who is this mystery boyfriend anyway?" Ebony asked as he continued through her magazines.

"You'll see," he smiled.

"Must be someone good if you've run off with him all this time," Chelly said. "You don't even have a job."

He snorted, "Me? Work? Yeah right. He works."

"A Sugar Daddy," grinned Chelly in amusement.

"Better than that," he told her with a wink of his good eye.

"I'm almost scared to find out. You're all glowy," Ebony said with a motion at her friend's demeanor.

"You're more glowy now too. I thought I'd find you hunched over the couch, not looking through bridal magazines," he said.

"I'm feeling better," admitted Ebony.

"So we noticed," Chelly said. "You've actually been eating with the staff and hanging out with us again. What brought this on?"

"Yeah, share the pills," Luis quipped.

Ebony snorted. "Like you need to be happier. Whoever you're dating seems to be enough."

"More than you want to know," he grinned.

She ignored him. "It was something Stark did for me that helped me move on…helped me let go."

"What did he do?" Chelly asked, holding a hand out to stop any smart ass comment that might come from Luis. He pouted and continued looking through the magazines, listening still.

"Had me break the Mirror of Erisd," she said and Chelly's eyes widened, Luis stopped turning mid page.

"You did what?" asked Luis.

"You heard me."

"Why did he have you do that?"

"Who do you think I'd see in that mirror?" she answered with a question.

There was silence for a moment as both exchanged glances, wondering who was going to ask the inevitable question. It was Chelly. "So…did you see your dad?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, I did."

"And…?" coming from Luis.

"And it was hard at first, I didn't think I could do it…and then I did."

"Good for you," Luis said.

"And then it was something Lucius had said to me over the summer," both her friends scrunched their face in disgust at the name. Neither had settled well with the Malfoy's yet. "He said my dad is always here…and it sunk in and I'm okay now." She rubbed her hands together. "So on to more important things like getting this wedding over so we can get Chelly's over and Oliver and George will be less grumpy when they get sex again."

They continued going through magazines, marking things they liked and Luis took it as his job to make sure the things they had marked were approved to his tastes and standards. Twice Ebony had to smack him with a magazine when he committed on her poor tastes. There was another knock on her door and Ebony opened it from where she sat, surprised to see not only George but Oliver and Stark come in as well.

She frowned, "What are you three doing here?"

That caused Stark to frown as he took a seat in Ebony's chair, knowing better than to touch her father's. "What do you mean? You invited us."

"No, I didn't," she shook her head as George sat next to her, scooting her down the couch to make enough room.

"Yea, you did. We all got your letter."

"What letter?" she questioned completely confused.

"The one saying for us to be here at five because you had something to say," Oliver replied, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Chelly.

"I didn't write any letters," she told them.

George frowned. "I just got it today."

"I didn't write or send anything out. I've been going through magazines and making plans all day until Luis and Chelly came to visit."

"I thought you had papers to grade?" Stark asked the other girl.

Chelly nodded. "I do but Luis said we should visit Ebony so I came along."

"Wait, who sent the letters then?" Oliver asked.

At the same time they all looked at Luis who was whistling to himself as he flipped through magazines. He paused at feeling the pressure of their stares and looked up with an innocent smile at their glares. "What?"

"Did you send us letters?" Stark asked him.

"May-be," he stretched out the vowels.

"Luis, did you send out letters to them telling them to be here?" Ebony questioned putting her magazine down.

He grinned, "May-be."

"Why Luis?" Oliver asked this time.

He sprang to his feet, nearly bouncing on his heels. "Because today is the day I decided you should all see my boyfriend. I thought it would cheer up Ebony, but she's already better so there's no pressure on me and it makes it more perfect and besides, I don't want to steal her thunder on her wedding day so I thought I'd do it now."

"Gee thanks," she rolled her eyes.

"So, let me get this straight," Stark said and sat forward. "You sent us all letters telling us to be here at five and dragged Chelly here to see Ebony just to introduce us to your boyfriend."

Luis nodded.

Stark shook his head in disbelief. "Why am I not surprised?"

"So introduce him already," Chelly sighed loudly.

Luis was grinning from ear to ear, "Oh no, I don't need to introduce you. You already know him," he grinned broader.

"I do?" Chelly frowned.

"You all do," he nodded happily.

"Can you tell us already?" George said. "I'm getting hungry."

"Me too," Chelly agreed,

"What else is new?" Ebony snorted causing Chelly to elbow her

"Okay, okay, back to me," Luis said bringing the focus to him. He cleared his throat. "I'd like to introduce you, somewhat since you know him, to my boyfriend. We've been dating since May. I just didn't want to tell anyone because of the obvious things that had happened and it just wasn't the right time. But now - things are getting brighter around here and life is starting to move again and like I said I don't want to steal Ebony's day from her on her wedding day."

She snorted at that.

"So, without further ado," he put his hand on the doorknob to the door.

"So he's going to magically appear outside the door?" Oliver asked.

"He's already out there. I told him to be out there at 5:15. So, _as I was saying,_" he glared at Oliver. "I'd like you to meet my boyfriend," he opened the door and they just stared. No one was there. George coughed and Oliver opened his mouth to say something but Chelly smacked his leg and he stopped. She reached into her purse and took out a water bottle to stop herself from saying anything either.

"So nice to meet him," Stark went on. "He's a real catch."

Luis frowned and leaned out the doorway, looking one way then the other. When his head turned the other way he glared and looked at his wrist watch. "I'm sooo buying you a new watch. You killed my moment," he reached out the doorway and pulled a person into view.

This time everyone stared _because_ of the guy. George and Ebony stared in shock, both smiling. Ebony shook her head, he'd kept true to his word. She had to give him that. Stark was less dumbfounded, he'd seen it coming after all. Chelly, however, dropped her jaw her water bottle dropping from her fingers. Oliver caught it with quick speed and set it back on the table as he smirked.

"Viktor Krum!" Chelly exclaimed and her eyes went back and forth from Luis to Viktor. "Tell me you're not fucking serious."

"Oh, I'm very serious," he grinned and shut the door behind Viktor he took a seat on the floor. Luis sat right next to him, putting his head on the Bulgarian's shoulder.

"You – I – he –you're dating – but – I thought – what the…" Chelly trailed off and Oliver rubbed her back.

"Can't even form a complete thought," Ebony snorted. "I think you short circuited her."

"Just cause I got him," Luis grinned, patting Viktor's leg.

"Good for you," Ebony nodded and glanced at Viktor. "I'm guessing it started that night."

Viktor nodded. "Yes…actually though I found him attractive at the wedding. I just didn't see him again until the battle."

"What about the ball a few years back?" George asked.

"I wasn't there," Luis said. "I was gone that year, missed out."

"A shame," Viktor said. "We could have been sooner."

Luis blushed and nudged him. "In another time I was there."

Oliver shook his head. "Didn't think you were attracted to guys."

"No one does really," Viktor shrugged. "But I don't care."

"That's the spirit," said Stark and glanced at Chelly. "I think she might care though."

Chelly just kept shaking her head. "It figures. It just figures."

"What does?" George asked.

"That Luis gets Krum," she growled.

Oliver frowned. "Hey, what about me?"

Chelly patted his leg. "I love you, don't get me wrong. And I love being the girl on your arm when those fan bitches see you and glare and I grin and wave. I _love_ it. It's just fantasy and Luis got the fantasy."

Luis grinned, "Damn right I did. Always said I would."

Krum frowned at him. "You did?"

"Oh yeah," he gestured at Ebony. "Just ask her. I'd tell her all the time I'd be with you someday…I just didn't know it'd involve a major scary battle where I nearly died four times but at the same time was kind of exhilarating."

Krum put his arm around Luis's shoulders. "That is cute."

"I know I am," he boasted.

Stark rolled his eyes, "A lifetime of hearing this…"

"Now back to wedding plans," Luis said and tossed a magazine at Ebony and started flipping through his own. Ebony nestled into the crook of George's arm as her friends helped her pick out designs for her wedding while working on Chelly's at the same time. She glanced at her father's empty chair but knew it wasn't empty. She could almost feel him sitting there, watching with a roll of his eyes as he read his book. She smiled. This wasn't exactly how she imagined it should be, but it was better than nothing at all.

* * *

_Now it's all so clear  
and I believe that everything's been working out for me  
And I feel you now  
I'm not alone  
I'll always know, I'll always know where you are  
When I see myself I'll always know where you are_


	29. Chapter 29

_**Disclaimer: I only own stark, Luis, Chelly, and Ebony. I wish I owne Cedric...but oh well...one chapter left to go...then the AU's start...lyrics from Rembrant - I'll Be There For You**_

* * *

_I'll be there for you  
When the rain starts to pour  
I'll be there for you  
Like I've been there before  
I'll be there for you  
'Cuz you're there for me too..._

* * *

**CH. 34 WEDDING DAY **

Ebony stared at herself in the mirror. Her dress was simple as usual. Strapless and pure white fitting around her chest with a beaded trim there and at her waist and cascading down to her feet. Her black hair was down in curls, falling in a wave to the middle of her back. She twisted the black pearl ring on her finger with a sad smile. He wasn't here with her, but at the same time she knew he was. Knew they all were. She could almost see them sitting out there in the chairs outside, Tonks next to Lupin, hand in hand as they smiled. Fred standing up there, next to George with his usual grin. Sirius sitting near Lupin with tears in his eyes. Mad Eye sitting with the other teachers, looking angry but pleased in his own way. Dumbledore beaming with pride at the young couple. Cedric sitting with the rest of her friends with his golden boy smile. And her father, waiting for her, to take her arm and hand her off to George to start her own life with him. He'd hesitate at first, she knew that, but then he'd relent and let her go, glaring at George one last time. She could see it even if no one else could. Her family was there. Out there in those seats, waiting to see her.

There was a light knock on the door and she called out for whoever it was to enter. The door opened and she glanced at them through the mirror. "You look breathtaking standing there. Purely beautiful," a voice said behind her, even without the refection she could see in the mirror she knew who it was, recognized the voice as she had heard it so many times in her life whether she had liked it or not. Now it didn't bother her at all as it had in the past.

She smiled, eyes meeting in the reflection. "Thank you."

He noticed her twisting the ring on her finger and gave her a sad smile as he stepped up closer to her. "I wish he were here to fulfill this obligation."

"I do too…no offense of course," she apologized quickly. "It's just…I miss him…"

"Non sense, he was your father. You have every right to miss him…but it is your wedding day and you have a very lucky man out there waiting to marry you and start a life and family of your own. Your father would be happy...," he smiled. "Of course knowing Severus, he would grumble and pretend to be upset with the situation but he'd be happy nonetheless. He is happy, you know…he and Sirius both."

She nodded. "I hope you didn't get too much grief being here. I told everyone you were invited and that you were giving me away."

"That must have gone over real well when you mentioned it," he chuckled.

"Actually, besides from a few arguments from certain people it didn't bother George."

"I assume you mean Potter and Ron Weasley."

"Yes, but like I told Harry, he's one of the usher's and Ron's the best man and I don't know Arthur that well so none of them could do it and…most of my family is dead now…and it just felt right having you do it, Lucius. Your family and Andromeda and Teddy are all I have left as far as blood goes."

"But as a great deal of people have proved, family goes beyond blood," he told her and Lucius glanced at his watch. "It's almost time. Your bridesmaids are eager to get in here."

"I'll be ready in a minute. I just need to talk to my Dad before I do this," she said. She knew Lucius wouldn't look at her like she was crazy. He had been the one to suggest it in the first place and he had been right about it helping with the pain.

"Take your time. I'll be right outside with your bride's maids. Not sure how long I can hold them out the door, especially Luis," he smiled a bit and shut the door behind him.

Ebony sighed and her eyes wondered the room as she twisted the black pearl ring back and forth on her finger. "Okay, Dad…today's the day. I know you can't _be here_ like you wanted to be, but I know you're here and that helps. Help me through this. It's all I ask of you today. Help me be strong enough to marry him and live happily ever after. It's hard for both of us still…so I ask the same of you too, Fred. I know you're listening. It's not like you not to eavesdrop. But…please Dad, let this go well. Because today is the day everything in my life changes…now George moves in with me. I just couldn't bring myself to sell the house and move out so he agreed to move in with me. I redid my room as you might know…I haven't touched yours…I can't yet. I just take it one day at a time and that seems to be enough. Just be here today…"

There was a knock on the door and Chelly peeked in, "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good Come in."

The door burst open and Hermione, Ginny, Luis, and Chelly came in. Chelly was quick to adjust her dress in the back, making sure it was perfect for her. She stood back up, straightening out her own light blue strapless dress, her hair done up and in curls with light glitter near her eyes. She found it a good idea to have her friends wear their house colors in the same style dress. Except for Luis, of course. He was suave in his finely shined black shoes and pressed slacks. His dress shirt was tucked and perfect and the black vest he wore over it was smooth. His silk tie represented his house in deep blue with a silver pin holding it in place.

"You look great," Chelly reassured her and handed her boutique of flowers.

"Thank you," Luis replied smugly yet jokingly. Both girl's shot him a glare.

"Nervous?" Hermione asked her.

"A bit," she admitted.

"Don't worry, you're just marrying my brother…for life," Ginny reassured her. "I've known him for years, he's not that bad…much."

"Thanks Ginny," she snorted.

The door opened and Lucius nodded. "It's time." The music started just then and the lined up. Chelly took the front of the line giving her a wink and headed out, pairing up with Ron and taking his arm down the aisle since he was the Best Man. Hermione followed next with Harry at her arm then Ginny and Oliver. She found it best to separate the couples since Ron was George's Best Man and Chelly was her Maid of Honor. Luis was next taking Viktor's arm as he bowed slightly in his Durmstrang suit. She remembered it from the Yule Ball. Luis grinned broadly. They were the only two she couldn't separate. Lucius took her arm, patting it. "Ready?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

The music played and she stepped outside with Lucius walking down the aisle and seeing the smile on George's face. The one that meant everything. She saw McGonagall dab at her eyes as well as Hagrid with his much larger handkerchief in his much larger seat. Neville was sitting next to Luna and her father. The Weasley's were all grouped together, Mrs. Weasley beaming through her tears. Andromeda sat near Narcissa with Teddy in her lap, his blue hair ruffled slightly. Draco was on her other side, not so cold anymore in his demeanor. Stark was sitting in the front with the Weasley's, he smiled with a nod as she passed by. Lucius paused at the front and handed her to George, he took her hand.

Ebony smiled at him before turning to George. She took a deep breath, ready to take the plunge into her new life.

The ceremony seemed to go by quickly and she was married at last, a new diamond ring replacing her engagement ring and the reception and food were next to Chelly's relief. Along with the dancing to Luis's relief. Ebony seemed to have to take her turn with everyone during the reception after she finished her first dance with George. She never seemed to get a break, even Krum stole a dance. She was relieved when it was Harry's turn. He took her hand in his, spinning her once.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm a lot better these days. Haven't seen you around in awhile?"

He shrugged, "Auror training isn't easy."

"I imagine but I hear about you from Ginny and I get your letters," she told him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when it was rough for you at the beginning."

"Harry, you were there for me when it was the roughest. That's what matters the most," she told him. "You let me bury my dad where it mattered most and I know that couldn't have been easy."

"Easier than you think after I saw his memories," he reminded her. "He really did love her…didn't he?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he did. He never talked about her to me though. I never knew those things until you did."

"There's one thing I did know."

"What?"

"He loved you just as much, maybe more," he told her.

She smiled and he twirled her around again. "I know…do you think they're here? All of them?"

He nodded his head. "I'd like to think so. I don't think any of them would miss this."

The song ended and Ebony was ready to sit down but Lucius had other ideas as he took her hand. "I know this is supposed to be your father's dance but I was hoping you'd let me fulfill it."

"Sure," she told him with a smile.

He smiled, relieved by her word. "I picked out a certain song. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," she said and the song started to play and Ebony's eyes widened as she froze in place, the lyrics washing over her. _"Here where the daylight begins. Fog on the street light slowly thins. Water on water's the way, safety of shoreline fading away. Sail your sea, meet your storm all I want is to be your harbor. The light in me will guide you home. All I want is to be your harbor."_

Lucius frowned and turned to the music. "That's not the song I chose."

Ebony laughed and shook her head. "It's okay. I like this song…"

"Are you sure?"

"More than ever," she nodded and danced to it with Lucius. As he twirled her around she smiled. Her father was there. They all were. The song was proof enough and she was unsure this day could get better.

Hours ebbed away and finally there were only a few people left. Chelly and Oliver were sitting across from the bride and groom on the couch, all in more comfortable clothing now. Ebony had traded her dress for a pair of jeans and a camisole top as had Chelly except with a Disneyworld t-shirt.

"What a day?" George sighed rubbing the back of his head.

"It's all over," she patted his leg.

"I know," he sighed and leaned his head on the back of the couch. "I finally get laid tonight."

She ended up smacking his leg. "Keep saying it and it won't happen."

"But you said."

"Uh huh, and our honeymoon isn't until spring break which is two weeks away. I have class on Monday."

"And to think," Oliver quipped. "We're next."

"I know," Chelly nodded. "And I feel you're looking forward to the sex part of it too."

He snorted. "I'll be married, I know how that works."

She smiled at him. "Awee, see you're already trained."

"I like not being married," Luis said next Krum, snuggled against him on another couch, feet dangling over the edge of the couch. "It's good sex that way."

George and Oliver both cringed. "Please keep that to yourself."

"Just saying I have no complaints," said Luis.

Krum agreed. "Neither do I."

George slunkered into the couch. "I think I'm okay with no sex tonight. Not with these images in my head."

"Where's everyone else?" Oliver asked hoping for a change in subject.

"Ginny's studying for a test on Monday," George answered. "Ron's with Hermione somewhere and Harry went to bed, he has training in the morning."

"Yeah, Luna went home and I'm sure Adam's at home dominating the TV," Chelly said.

"The Malfoy's left a while ago," Ebony added. "So that took care of everyone."

"Not everyone," she turned to see Stark coming in with McGonagall. He was carrying a rather large picture frame that had a dark green cloth draped over it. He set it up against the wall nearest Ebony. "I have something here for you…well it's from McGonagall mostly."

She turned to the Head Master who had tears in her eyes. "It was barely finished last month. I hadn't known it'd been made until it came back. It took so long to be done because it was to be done a different way from most others. It can travel through other portraits like most but…it's different…"

"What is it?" she asked with a frown.

"I have a gift for you, dear," McGonagall said with tears in her eyes as she gestured at it. "If anyone deserves to keep this, it's you. Go ahead…"

Ebony walked towards it, stretching her hand out cautiously to grab the edge of the cloth. She pulled at it, letting it fall to the floor and she gasped, a both her hands covering her mouth.

"Don't gawk, it doesn't fit you," her father spoke from the painting and Ebony laughed as tears flowed from her eyes, falling to her knees in front of it. She looked over at Stark. "Is it…"

He nodded. "It's not like the Mirror."

"It took so long," McGonagall answered. "Because your father, it seems, wanted a piece of him put into it. A memory if you will. It is more him than that mirror ever could be."

"Dad…" she touched the painting, second best thing to actually touching him.

"Ebony…" Snape repeated just as tenderly.

"I'm so glad to see you…"

"I never left," he told her.

She nodded her head and looked over at Chelly who was staring in awe, tears in her eyes. "Snape?"

"Murillo," he looked her over. "Seems you lost weight from where I sit."

"I'm a teacher now."

"That explains it," he snorted and his eyes moved to Luis who was staring with a mixture of shock and fear. "Lugunas…with the Bulgarian…I'm a bit shocked."

"Eep," was all Luis could manage.

Lastly he looked at George and grimaced. "At long last, it finally happened…" he sighed. "It's too late for me to say anything now I suppose."

"Never stopped you before," George smiled and looked at Ebony. "You do know we can't have any moving portraits in our bedroom now."

"Never wanted any in there anyway," she told him.

Conversation started back up as Chelly questioned Snape and life seemed to move on again in that moment. Everything was exactly how it should be. She was married to the man she loved, surrounded by friends she loved and family as others came into the room to see what the commotion was. Harry even winked at her when he saw the portrait and she smiled, leaning back against George's legs. They were right. In the end everything would be okay. And she had to admit, the end wasn't perfect, it was far from what she imagined. She had lost a lot, they all had. But she could see the years play by in her memories. From meeting Harry first in that corridor with Hermione and Ron. To the year they were attacked by the Basilisk. Followed by her biological father coming back in her life and her friendship with Chelly bonding more through it, to even dating George that year. The next year and being the one thing Harry treasured most to dancing for the last time with her father and the death of Cedric that had a bright area of showing her how much her father loved her. The Ministry battle and moments with Luis as he swore to date Krum one day only to succeed now. To the tragic year of losing everyone she loved and having to live through it only to win so much more in the end. But where she sat wasn't the end after all. It was the end of a seven year trial, full of laughter and tears and blood and heartache. But it was the start of a whole new life that could only get better. She was happy. Everyone was happy. And in the end, that was all that mattered. In the end it was the start to a perfect beginning.

* * *

_No one could ever know me  
No one could ever see me  
Seems you're the only one who knows  
What it's like to be me  
Someone to face the day with  
Make it through all the rest with  
Someone I'll always laugh with  
Even at my worst I'm best with you, yeah _

* * *

**One chapter left to go!! R&R**


	30. Chapter 30

_**Disclaimer: Here it is! The end of the series...19 years later...I own the same people...lyrics are from Ryan Cabrera I Will Remember You**_

* * *

_Time goes by fast  
Got my memories  
And they will last  
I try to keep it simple cause I hate goodbyes  
I try to keep it simple by telling myself that_

* * *

**19 YEARS LATER**

Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp and warm as families bobbed along the platform of 9 ¾ to catch the Hogwarts Express. Two large cages rattled on top of the laden trolleys the parents were pushing and a young red head girl was clutching her father's arm with tears in her eyes.

"It won't be long before it's your turn," Harry told her.

"_Two years_," sniffed Lily. "I want to go now."

Harry spotted his friends up ahead. "It won't be much longer, sweety."

"But how come Albus gets to go now!" she asked.

"Because Albus is eleven, you're barely nine," he reminded her.

"I won't be Slytherin. I won't be Slytherin," the young boy kept muttering to himself.

"Hey, you're Aunt Ebony was a Slytherin. She teaches there you know, so does Professor Stark and he was Slytherin."

"I don't want to be though," he shook his head.

Harry smiled and ruffled his hair, he stopped the carts by the loading dock and slowly inched towards where Ebony had her back to him.

As he got closer he saw Ebony grabbing the back collar of one of her youngest boy, pulling him back towards her to hug him, ruffling his red hair. "Mum, Mum, that's enough affection. You're embarrassing me. It's my first year."

"I'm just loving you. And I live to embarrass you, but not half as much as your father. Just be glad I took a year off of teaching Defense Against. Next year, you'll be seeing more of me," she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and he wiped at it but with a loving smile on his freckled face.

"Ain't that the truth," George grinned at his son, handing him a brown bag that was tied shut. "I got a goodie bag, for you, Fred. Now don't go setting the Crackle Works off in the girl's bathroom like your brother's did. They tend to raise a stink on that."

Ebony was unaware of Harry approaching and he thought he'd get to sneak up on her but she turned at the last minute, eyes bright and blue, brushing a strand of black hair from her face. "Hey Harry."

"Thought I'd gotten the best of you," he snapped his fingers and gave her a hug.

"That's my job, mate," George grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "I get the best of her if you know what I mean."

Ebony kicked her foot out catching her husband's shin. He winced and rubbed at the spot. "Quit being a perve," she smiled. "It's a wonder I married you in the first place, your Holeyness."

"I still remembered why I married you, you're sarcasm is irresistible. Not to mention you've always been extremely hot."

She went to swipe at him again but twenty years of marriage taught the Weasley how to avoid her playful smacks. "And I wonder why the twins are so bad!"

"How are my wonderful nephews today?" Harry asked as Ginny joined him, Lily moving over to converse with Ebony's red haired daughter.

"Same as you saw them yesterday, just more energetic," she let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad the school gets to deal with them for the next few months. And its Fred's first year so three down one to go," she glanced over at her daughter who was busy talking to Lily.

"I know what you mean," Ginny nodded at her sister-in-law. "Lily can't wait to go and James keeps taunting Albus."

"Boys will be boys," Ebony smiled and as she spoke the words there was a loud _bang_ followed by two "I didn't do it's"…which meant they did do it.

Ebony rolled her eyes and spun around to face her two fifteen year old twins as they pointed at each other swearing the other did it, they're black hair partially hanging in their faces. And George looked none too innocent as he side stepped away from his boys. "Sirius! Severus! What have I told you about setting those bloody things off in here…save it for school. You wait til I get home and tell your grandfather this!"

"Awe, Mom…his painting hangs near us at school, he'll be on us all the time," Sirius groaned. Harry couldn't help but smile. Glad to know that not all of Snape was gone as he still was able to hassle his grandsons just as he had Harry.

"Good," she sneered much like her father used to. There was a lot of the potions master in her.

"Serves you boys right," George stepped in putting a hand around his wife.

Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes.

Ebony turned her eyes to him. "Don't think my father won't hear of this either. You'll get an earful when we get home," she grinned. "Which is all you can take."

"There you go with the ear jokes again. Such a smart ass…I love it!" He hugged her tighter to him and turned her around to kiss her while the twins made gagging noises and Fred looked embarrassed.

Hermione had stepped in to the conversation. "And you wonder why you have four kids."

George parted from her. "What can I say, us Weasley's are good at what we do."

"Unless it's housework," Ebony snorted.

George grinned. "I really do love you."

His daughter trotted over and hugged him. "Does that mean I get a sister?"

"No," George and Ebony both replied.

Nymphadora hung her head and Lily put an arm around her. "You got me, Dora."

"Thank God," she replied. "You understand my suffering…you have older brothers too."

"What are we talking about?" Hugo asked, bounding up to his cousins while Rose immediately walked over and nervously discussed school with Fred and Albus since they were all starting together.

Chelly arrived then with Oliver, and Bella went straight to the group of congregated nine year olds while Cedric leaned against the train talking with James. It was amazing that so many different houses of kids could get along so well. Including the Slytherin twins and Luis's daughter Genesis who may have been in Ravenclaw but her Slytherin side tended to rear its head. She approached with Luis and Viktor in her fashionable clothing which she took on Luis's side. But looks were deceiving with her. She was a Chaser on the Quidditch team and one of the best, she got that from Krum. Not to mention Sirius and Severus played for Slytherin as Beaters and Alize was a Beater for Gryffindor while Cedric was a Seeker for Ravenclaw. Very challenging for them when it came to cheering for their kids during games. It was a natural war zone during Quidditch games though the parents were all astounded to find no hard feelings were taken off the field.

Sirius grinned at Genesis, taking the opportunity to smile at her, "How you doing, Genny? Looking as lovely as ever."

"Keep dreaming," she snorted with a smile.

"Oh I will, believe me," he wiggled his eyebrows.

Luis rolled his eyes as his daughter did. Definitely like her father. Ebony still found it hard to believe Luis had agreed to adopt a child, but when it came to Viktor he wouldn't say no. And Genesis was just like Luis, personality wise. She had her father's athleticism.

"Please," she snorted holding her hand up in his face. "I have standards. And girl's with butts like mine don't date guy's with faces like yours, much less Ravenclaw's don't date Slytherin's.

Luis put his arm around her, "That's my little girl."

Krum rolled his eyes and shook his head but seemed amused with it.

"I passed my Muggle's drivers test," Ron beamed as Ebony listened back in the conversation. "Hermione didn't think I could."

"I did too," she said.

Ron slung his arm around his eleven year old daughter, Rose. "Just remember honey…if you're not in Gryffindor I'll disinherit you…but no pressure."

"RON!" Hermione swatted his arm.

The group of nine year olds giggled but Rose and Albus looked nervous while Cedric and James snickered.

"He didn't mean it," Hermione reassured her. "You can be in any house and we'll love you."

Chelly nodded. "Yeah, Rosey. Look at all mine…every single one in a different house…all I need is Bella to be a Slytherin and I got a full set."

Bella ran by just then chasing Hugo, swearing to beat him to a pulp and crucio him. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Looks like I might have a full set."

Ebony smiled, "It could be worse." She turned her head and spotted Malfoy in the crowd with his wife and their son, Scorpius. She only saw the young boy a few times. She may have settled things with Lucius and Narcissa, they were family still but her and Draco still had a rift between them that had never quite settled right. "Look who it is…"

"So that's Scorpius," Ron said under his breath. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, will you quit turning them against each other."

"Seriously," Chelly agreed. "I get enough of this during Quidditch season at Hogwart's. You try cheering for your kid when you have one on each team. It's a pain," she leaned over and grabbed Cedric by his collar. "Son, see that boy. If he plays for Slytherin, grab the Snitch before he blinks. And Aziel, you knock him far off his broom."

"Chelly!" Oliver scolded.

"What, I'm just saying," she shrugged.

Ebony chuckled until she saw George whispering to the twins about not completely blocking bluggers from knocking Scorpius off his broom even if they were on the same team. "George," she cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows at him when he smiled broadly. She looked around for her blue haired God son that currently lived with her. "Where's Teddy?"

"Better question," George noted with a wicked grin. "Where's Victoire?"

Ron looked around for his niece but no one saw the 7th year Ravenclaw.

Until James reappeared in a sprint, "You will not believe what I saw!" He pointed to the back area of the train."Teddy's back there. And he's _snogging Victoire_!" He looked at the adults waiting for a reaction, not even the other kids had one except for the giggling nine year olds and the rolling eyes of Genesis as Sirius grinned at her and gestured for to her to go with him. Severus snorted and shook his head. "Teddy," James repeated. "Teddy Lupin! Snogging _my cousin_, Victoire. And I asked Teddy what he was doing -."

"You interrupted them?" Ginny asked "You are _so_ like your Uncle Ron -."

"And he said he came with Aunt Ebony to see her off and then told me to go away. But they're _kissing_."

"Oh, it'd be great if they got married," Lily whispered to Dora, Bella and Hugo. "Teddy would really be part of the family then."

"Hey," Ebony said and poked her niece. "Teddy is _related_ to me, by blood, so he _is_ part of the family…just down the line and not to Victoire. And he lives with me anyway, next to Severus's room."

"You know, he does want a bigger room, Mum," Severus said. "Sirius and I could share the bigger room and Teddy can knock down the wall and –."

"No," Ebony said with a shake of her head firmly. "You and Sirius will share a room when I want the house demolished." She glanced at the old watch Harry had bought her during their first Christmas. "It's almost eleven, you should all be getting on the train."

"Don't forget to give Neville our love," Ginny said to James.

"Mum! He's a Professor."

"But you know Neville."

James rolled his eyes. "Outside yes, but during school he's my teacher just like Stark is." He vented his anger by nudging his brother. "See you on board, watch out for Threstals."

"I thought they were invisible!"

"They are," Genesis reassured him and tripped James as he went up the stairs. "Your brother is just being a dolt."

James went to kick her back and she dodged it with a glare. "You kick me and dirty these Applebottom jeans and I will knock you off your broom during Quidditch so hard you'll forget your name!"

James stuck his tongue at her with a laugh and ran to find a compartment. Sirius stepped around her. "You can knock me off my broom any day."

"Might be an improvement to your personality," she snorted and clambered on board after kissing her dad's goodbye. Severus followed with a roll of his eyes and took out a Fizzer from his bag with a sly smile towards his Dad who gave him a thumbs up.

Alize had already boarded sharing a compartment with Genesis and the twins. Chelly hugged her two other boys, making Nathaniel promise to study hard and Cedric to win the Quidditch games for Ravenclaw and reminded him to stay out of trouble and not to forget to visit Hagrid. "Just because I'm not working this year either doesn't mean I won't be subbing," she warned them. "I know everything that goes on, so try to step out of line and you'll be seeing more of me than you wanted to in class_."_

They gulped and boarded the train and Ebony chuckled, turning to see Harry reassuring Albus still. "Threstals are nothing to worry about. They're gentle creatures, there's nothing scary about them."

Ginny kissed him goodbye. "See you for Christmas."

"Don't let James wind you up either."

"What if I'm in Slytherin?" he asked.

Harry crouched down in front of his son and glanced up at Ebony who smiled with a nod and then looked back at his son. Out of all his kids, he was the one who inherited Lily's eyes. "Albus Severus," Harry said quietly so nobody but Ebony could hear. "You were named for two great Head Masters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

Ebony felt tears in her eyes at Harry's words to her father's memory.

"But just say," Al said and Harry stopped him.

"Then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? And your Aunt Ebony is the Head of Slytherin, she was one too. It doesn't matter to us, but if it matters to you then choose Gryffindor. The Hat takes your choice into consideration."

"It does?"

"It did for me," said Harry.

Albus got on the train and the parents stood there together just as they had so many years ago but on the other side of the train this time. Their kids leaned out the windows waving and they waved back, realizing now that what they had done nineteen years ago made all the difference in the world. They were safe. Their kids were safe and Hogwarts would never be bothered again. The train turned the corner and they all stood there still, together as they'd always been, just as their kids were. The last trace of steam disappeared into the autumn air.

"He'll be all right," Ginny said.

"They all will," Luis agreed.

Ebony touched the skin of her left wrist, where the mark still was but no longer visible and she noticed Harry touched the scar on his forehead, both of them doing it absent mindedly. He smiled at her, noticing she'd done the same. "I know they will."

Their scars had not pained them for nineteen years. Ebony had been right. In the end everything was okay, in fact it was better than okay, she decided as they all headed back to their cars with their younger kids and Teddy, the group together just as they had been years ago, everything was perfect.

* * *

_I, I will remember you  
And all of the things that we've gone through  
There is so much I could say  
But words get in the way so  
When we're not together  
I will remember you  
I will remember you_

* * *

**There you have it! The end of the Ebony series...but this just means I start posting my AU's that date back to Goblet of Fire...hopefully you enjoy those as much as you did this because in those, anything can happen...I don't follow guidelines...**


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